Lily Meet James, James Meet Lily
by Morganna Arrowood
Summary: HIATUS Lily continued on until she reached Dumbledore’s office, and stopped. This was her last chance to change her mind.
1. A New Beginning

**Lily Meet James, James Meet Lily**

  


A/N: Hey it's North*Star again! This is a L/J in case you couldn't tell by the title. I'm going to try to make this as original as I can for a L/J fic. The problem is that you only have about twenty or so years to deal with before they die and I am not starting with when they were born. You also know that they become Anamagi, Lily and James fall in love, their friends were Remus, Peter, and Sirius (plus others sometimes). Once you add these and everything else known about them, it gets really difficult. Reviews are welcome!   


Disclaimer: MWPP, Lily, and everyone else you recognize belong to the brilliant J.K. Rowling. Everything that you don't recognize belongs to me and the thing that takes up space between my ears.   


**Chapter One: A New Beginning**

  


_Lily Evans slowly walked through the dark hallway, praying silently that the caretaker wouldn't be watching. She could hear the sounds of her footsteps bouncing off of the walls of the corridor and into the looming shadows ahead. She peered into the silent, empty classrooms, usually so full of life but now sullen. She may never see them again for all she knew. Lily continued on until she reached Dumbledore's office, and stopped. This was her last chance to change her mind. After this, there was no going back.   
_

"Thank you for everything Professor Dumbledore. I will never forget what you have done for me." Lily whispered. She spent a long time just standing in front of his office. What had gotten her into this anyways? Dumbledore couldn't help her anymore. She didn't know whether to go back to the common room, or to go on. She closed her eyes, drew her breath, and turned in the direction of the front door.   


* * * * *

  


"Lily! Lily Evans, hurry up right now or you will be late for your first day of school!" Lily awoke that morning to a pillow being thrown in her face. She reluctantly opened her eyes and stared blearily at Petunia, who was inches from her face. "I'll tell mum if you don't get up."   


"I'm going Petunia. Just calm down already!" Lily sat up in bed, a huge smile on her face.   


"I don't know why you are smiling. Any normal person wouldn't be happy to be going to school. But you aren't a normal person, you're just a freak."   


"Get over it, you won't see me until next summer anyways." Lily added.   


"That won't bother me in the slightest." Petunia left the room and walked down the stairs. Lily jumped out of bed and started to get herself ready. She couldn't wait to be off to school and have Petunia out of her hair until next summer. Lily knew that Petunia acted the way she did because she was jealous of Lily's powers. She slipped on some jeans and a nice blouse thinking about her new school year all of the while. She dragged the trunk out from under her bed, piling it with books, quills, parchment, her uniform, money, and her wand placed carefully on top. She clicked her trunk shut and raced down the stairs. Her parents were waiting for her in the kitchen. Lily quickly grabbed breakfast and dragged her trunk into the car.   


Before Lily knew it, the car skidded to a stop outside of Kings Cross station. She opened the car door and stared at the commotion going on at the station. She pulled her trunk to the ticket window and received her boarding pass.   


This was going to be quite an adventure for an eleven-year-old. It was a bright and sunny day, perfect for the start of her new journey. All around her were people dressed in strange clothing pulling trunks just as she was. People were bustling here and there, pushing past one another in quite a hurry. Staring down at her ticket, she realized that it said Platform 9¾ which couldn't possibly be correct. She wandered over to platforms nine and ten to see a crowd of people waiting. A dark-haired girl who couldn't be much older than Lily herself ran at the barrier between the two platforms and disappeared.   


"Wow that just proves the witches are freaks." Petunia remarked after seeing the girl run straight through the wall.   


"You didn't have to come, Petunia." Lily shouted at her sister. Sisters were supposed to be inseparable; to have a special bond. That wasn't the case for Lily and Petunia.   


"I didn't want to." Mr. and Mrs. Evans silenced the bickering girls immediately before they caused a scene.   


"Lily, why don't you just follow that other little girl?" Mrs. Evans suggested. "We'll come right behind you."   


Lily nodded in agreement, shut her eyes tightly, and ran pushing her cart in front of her through the barrier. She passed right through the wall without feeling anything. Suddenly there was a crash and Lily ran into something solid.   


"Ouch, please watch what you are doing." It was the dark-haired girl from before. Lily had run right into her.   


"I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I closed my eyes because I was so afraid of going through the wall."   


"Me too, my name is Nichole Sanders, are you a first year too?"   


"Yes, pleasure to meet you. I'm Lily Evans. How did you know how to get through the wall?"   


"My older brother goes here too. We'd better hurry and get onto the train before it leaves without us."   


Lily's family had emerged though the wall at this point. She hugged and kissed them goodbye and boarded the bright red steam train, the Hogwarts Express. Lily and Nichole pulled their luggage into a compartment and took their seats, talking nervously about their new school year. Just then there was a knock at their compartment door and a brown-haired boy the same age as them opened the door to their compartment.   


"Mind if I sit here?" he asked politely, the girls agreed. The boy had an exhausted and worried look about him. He introduced himself to them as Remus Lupin.   


Just then, the train whistle blew and the wheels started to turn. Lily heard footsteps rushing down the hallway of the train. The door was slammed open and another boy rushed in.   


"Hey James, I told you we wouldn't be late." The boy yelled to someone outside the compartment as he pushed his luggage inside.   


"Aren't you going to ask whether you can come in?" Lily questioned.   


"Nope, you're just stuck with us." The boy proclaimed, pushing a strand of black hair out of his face.   


"Besides, the other compartments are full," said the boy called James who had just entered the compartment as well.   


"Thank you for gracing us with your presence." Lily said dryly.   


"Your welcome, allow me to introduce myself." James announced sitting down next to Remus right across from Lily. Lily noticed his rather untidy black hair and bright grey eyes. He wore a pair of thick-rimmed glasses that didn't suit him well.   


"Do I have to?"   


"Yes you do. I'm James Potter." He said. "And that's Sirius Black."   


"I'm Lily Evans and this is Nichole Sanders and Remus Lupin. So I'm guessing your first years too."   


"Yep and Sirius and me are going to be in Gryffindor house when we get to Hogwarts."   


"It could always be Slytherin for both of you!" Nichole exclaimed. "Hey look, it's the sweets cart."   


Just then, a kind faced old woman wheeled a cart of wizard candy right outside of their compartment. They picked up various packages of candy and pumpkin juice. The other four went into a long conversation about Quidditch, which Lily felt totally left out of since the other four were from wizarding families.   


"Someday I want to be a Chaser for the Gryffindor team." James sighed.   


"I want to be a beater for the house team." Sirius announced to all of them. "How about you Remus?"   


"Quidditch isn't really for me." Remus replied. "But when you miss the bludger one of these days Sirius, and it hits you in the head, causing you to go insane, don't come crying to me."   


"There wouldn't be much difference Remus." James added. "He is already insane.   


"Thanks so much James. And when you are pelted in the head by a bludger that I hit at you, you'll know why." Sirius remarked.   


"Go ahead Sirius." Lily said amusedly. "That would be rather entertaining."   


"And it would be more entertaining if she would mind her own business." James added.   


"But that would be no fun James." Lily commented.   


"Ten points for Lily." Sirius shouted. "That's payback for your insane comment, James."   


"Shut up Siri." James said good-humouredly.   


"Hey Lily, what do you think about Quidditch?" Nichole asked her.   


"I don't even know what Quidditch is to be perfectly honest." Lily turned pink with embarrassment. She started fumbling with the chocolate frog box.   


James noticed that Lily wasn't from a wizarding family immediately. "Here try this bean Lily." He held out his hand, holding a dark purple bean. Lily accepted willingly. Unfortunately, none of them decided to warn her about the Bertie Botts' every flavor beans. Sirius snickered. She popped the bean into her mouth, and then spat it out across the compartment.   


"What flavor was that Lily?" Sirius wondered trying to keep himself from laughing.   


"I think it was James," she said sarcastically. "Actually it was liver but close enough."   


Nichole consulted her watch. "Oh boy, they have known each other a whole three hours and they are already bickering."   


"Do we have to spend the rest of our school years with them?" Remus complained.   


"Unless you don't pass and have to stay eight years in the class behind us Lily." James retorted.   


Lily splashed the container of pumpkin juice she was holding on James' face. "And you'd be staying with me!" She screamed. Her face turned the same color as her hair.   


"Aw, you have upset sweet little Lily." Remus said jokingly.   


"'Sweet little Lily?' Since when do lilies have thorns on them?" James retorted. "You have quite a temper."   


"I do not have a temper! If you have a problem you could always leave James." Lily explained, glaring daggers at him.   


"You leave!" James demanded, narrowing his eyes.   


"I was here first!"   


"I don't care!"   


"You're so stubborn!-"   


"What is all of the commotion about?" Another young girl about their age poked her head into the door of the compartment. She had long brown hair swept back into braid which fell to her waist. In her hand was a thick book with a scarlet cover. "I would appreciate it if you would keep it down so that I could read."   


"Might as well just come in if you want to, there is no way that the two of them are not going to calm down." Nichole explained.   


"If you're sure that's alright." She stepped into the compartment and sat down on the end of one of the seats. She quietly continued to read her book, pulling her knees into her chest. It probably would have been quieter had she stayed in the other compartment, but that wasn't Lily's problem to deal with.   


"What are you reading?" Remus asked, trying to suppress the Lily and James verbal smack-down.   


"Transfiguration textbook, I'm trying to get ahead." She said simply and concisely, burying her nose back into the book. They took the hint that she didn't want to be bothered with questions, and she soon disappeared into the background of the Hogwarts Express.   


Still neither James nor Lily had left the compartment. "Sirius, could you please tell James that I am no longer speaking to him." Lily said looking absently at her new wizard's card.   


"Lily is no longer speaking to you, James." Sirius said reluctantly   


"Sirius, tell Lily that I don't care." Sirius delivered the message again. "And that I hope she enjoys Hogwarts because she won't ever graduate."   


"Sirius, tell James to stop with the stupid comments and that I don't care."   


"Sirius, tell Lily to stop stepping on my foot if she doesn't care."   


"I think she can hear you James." Sirius complained.   


"Sirius, tell him I am not going to stop stepping on his foot until he stops being so stubborn."   


"How am I being stubborn?" he asked. Sirius was relieved that he was no longer needed.   


The whistle of the Hogwarts Express blew and they began to slow down. The six first years realized it was almost time to go and rushed out of the compartment to get changed into their robes. James blocked the doorway so that Lily couldn't get out. Lily elbowed him in the ribs causing James to move his hands from the doorframe, and bolted down the hall of the train.   


Within minutes, the six students lugged their baggage onto to Hogsmede station outside the train. Students aimlessly chatted, waiting for transport to the school. A very large man greeted them at the station calling "firs' years follow me." The group of young students silently obeyed as the large man led them to the lake. A line of boats floated at the lakes edge. Nichole and Lily picked a nice sturdy boat and sat down. They stared in awe at the castle before them. It was tall and majestic, outlined against the dark sky by bright shining stars. At the large man's command, the boats took off and sailed silently towards the Hogwarts castle. Lily smiled imaging her new school and all of the new things she would learn to do.   


A shocked voice came from the person sitting across from her. "Remus? Is that you?" Her momentary daydream was broken when she noticed the outlines of two other people on their boat.   


"Yes of course it's me. Who were you expecting?"   


"I thought I got on the boat with Sirius!" The figure exclaimed. "Sirius where are you?!"   


"Hey James I'm over here." Sirius called from a boat just behind them. Lily glowered aggravatingly at James. "You know that Lily is over there giving you death glares, right?"   


"Oh great. Just the person that I wanted to be stuck on a boat with." Before James could say another word, he found himself flying through the air and landing into the freezing lake. "Thank you, I really needed to wash off that sticky pumpkin juice you threw at me." Choking and coughing, he swam back to the boat and pulled himself in, purposefully spitting water on Lily in the process.   


"I wasn't in the mood for a bath!" Lily yelled, looking down at her soaked school uniform.   


They were momentarily sidetracked when the boats pulled into a small mossy cove. The boats stopped at the opposite bank and Lily and James jumped out of their boat immediately. Lily walked over to Nichole for safety. The large front doors of the castle opened revealing the most amazing sight Lily had ever seen. Through the massive doors was a wide stone corridor. A large spiralling staircase twirled up as far as she could see to the very top of the castle. Lily was even more shocked to see that it the staircases moved periodically. She continued to follow the crowd until they reached a second set of massive doors. A middle aged-witch met them at these doors. She had a pointed hat jauntily placed upon her dark hair, which had been tied back into a tight bun.   


She briefly explained that they were going to enter the Great Hall and be sorted. Lily nervously wondered what it met to be sorted, and how the sorting ceremony is going to take place.   


"My brother said that you have to perform a simple spell to be sorted." Nichole said nervously. "I don't know how to cast a spell."   


"Neither do I." said the quiet girl who was reading the Transfiguration book. They could here similar conversation buzzing around the entrance, all to the effect of what students would have to do to be sorted. Suddenly, the large doors burst open, and Professor McGonagall, as she was called, led them in a line into the front of the Great Hall. Lily stared up at the enchanted ceiling, captivated by its twinkling stars. Professor McGonagall brought a stool and an old tattered hat to the front of the room. The hat, to their great surprise, burst into a song about the four houses of Hogwarts. Everyone clapped and cheered when it had finished. McGonagall took a long scroll out of her robes and unfurled it. She quietly cleared her throat. Lily knew that this scroll was the names of all of the new students of Hogwarts.   


"Carolyn Aubrey." Professor McGonagall called. A pale, frightened girl with curly blonde pigtails walked up to the front of the hall. McGonagall placed the hat on her head. After a few seconds, hat loudly shouted "Hufflepuff" to the entire hall. One of the tables sat up and cheered loudly to welcome their new member.   


"So that's all we have to do?" Lily whispered to the shy girl. She just nodded her head in agreement.   


"Philip Austin" Lily waited in anticipation for her turn. How would this old hat know where to put her? "Ravenclaw!" shouted the hat.   


"Bellatrix Black" McGonagall shouted. A dark-haired and heavy lidded girl strode to the front of the room and smugly waited for the hat to be placed on her head. "Slytherin!" the hat shouted seconds after impact with her hair. She got up and proudly strode to her table.   


"Figures." Sirius muttered.   


"Is she related to you Sirius?" Lily questioned.   


"Cousin. Piece of work isn't she?" He said dryly.   


"See, there is a possibility of you being in Slytherin still." Nichole said knowingly.   


"Sirius Black" McGonagall called. Lily was curious to see where he would end up. He walked up to the hat relaxed and confident. No sooner had the hat been placed on his head, it announced "Gryffindor!" Bursts of cheers came from the Gryffindor table, and Sirius took a seat with his new housemates. Lily could have sworn he said "we'll see where you end up Nichole".   


"Charles Crabbe" Professor McGonagall called. A sneering, sniveling student walked up, and the hat was placed on his head. "Slytherin!" the hat proclaimed triumphantly.   


The list seemed to go on forever. "Amos Diggory" "Hufflepuff!"   


"Holly Delacroix" McGonagall called. Reluctantly, the quiet girl walked up the stairs and sat down on the stool. She closed her eyes tightly as the hat was placed on her head. The hat obviously was having a difficult time placing her. "Probably because she is too quiet," said a gangly greasy haired boy next to her. Lily felt the urge to slap him, but she didn't know why. "Gryffindor!" it yelled. The table burst into applause again. Many of the first years were confused.   


"Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be brave?" the same tall boy drawled. Lily began to grow nervous; her turn must be soon –   


"Lily Evans," McGonagall called out. Lily slowly stepped out of line and walked to the front of the hall. She sat onto the stool, gripping the legs tightly until her knuckles turned white. How could Sirius be so composed? She only saw the anticipating faces of the other students for a moment before the hat slipped over her eyes, leaving her in darkness.   


"So what do we have here?" the hat questioned. It twisted and contorted upon her head. "I see a very sharp mind, a brave heart, a quick tongue, where should I put you?" It continued to think. Lily sat there for what seemed like hours to her, which equated to only about a minute. "Well, let's make it Gryffindor!" it yelled to the entire hall. Lily happily jumped off the stool and raced over to her table taking a seat next to Holly.   


"Lily, fancy meeting you!" Sirius grinned. She found she couldn't help from smiling.   


"Kelly Fawcett." "Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted from somewhere in the distance. Then there was a set of twins, "Katy Galvan" "Hufflepuff!" and "Stacey Galvan" "Ravenclaw!"   


She stared at her plate for awhile, entirely uninterested in the sorting. A few minutes later, Remus joined them sitting next to Lily.   


Then somewhere in there Lucius Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin and Carter McKenzie was sorted into Hufflepuff. The next several students went by like a blur to Lily. She came back to her senses when Sirius accidentally knocked over his goblet.   


"Peter Pettigrew" A short stocky boy with a mop of blonde hair walked to the hat. He was placed into Gryffindor and took a seat by Sirius.   


"James Potter" McGonagall called, looking shocked to see that he was soaked. He didn't look nearly as confident as Sirius had. In fact, he looked as if he was going to be sick. Lily watched intently, wondering what the hat would do with the likes of him. After a short pause it shouted "Gryffindor!"   


James walked over to the table and sat by Peter. "There is no escaping you, is there Evans?" He said, a smile playing on his lips.   


"Just shut up Potter." Lily answered, reaching across the table to punch him.   


"Nichole Sanders" Lily smiled for her friend, knowing how nervous she must feel. Nichole waved from the front of the room as the hat was placed on her head. "Gryffindor!" Nichole ran back to the table and gave Lily a hug before taking her seat.   


"Severus Snape" It was that stupid greasy haired kid with the rude comments. Lily wasn't at all surprised that he was sorted into Slytherin. He went to join his unsmiling group at the far table.   


The last name on the list was "Gwen White" "Gryffindor!" Shortly after the ceremony ended, Dumbledore got up to say his opening words for the new term.   


"Welcome students to a new term at Hogwarts. I hope the new students already feel at home with their houses. I have a few words to say for the start of our new year. Those words are l hope you have a great year, and dig in!" At this point the feast magically appeared on the table before them. Lily picked up her plate, looking for some type of hole that the food must have come out of. Then she poked at the food, just to make sure it wasn't a mirage.   


"Evans, eat your food, don't play with it!" James called down the table. She frowned at him and flicked an olive at his head. Then she crammed the food into her mouth.   


That night Lily sat up in her bed, unable to fall asleep after the day's excitement. "Nichole, are you still awake?" Lily whispered loudly.   


"No thanks to you." Nichole said groggily. "Get some sleep; it's our first day of classes tomorrow." But Lily couldn't sleep. The minutes were ticking by way too slowly. She rolled off the bed and walked into the Gryffindor common room. She sat down on the sill and gazed out the window, waiting for the sun to come up.   


"Nice PJ's Evans." James said flatly.   


"Why are you here?" Lily asked disapprovingly. _How long had he been sitting there?_   


"It's my house too." He said. There was a long awkward silence. "Nervous?"   


"You bet." She stared out the window some more. "I'm not talking to you remember?"   


"Fine, if you want to be that way." He got up and walked back up the stairs.   


_Fine_ she muttered to herself. Just fine by me. She looked at the clock in the room. It was four thirty. She leaned back against the window. _Just three and one half hours_ she kept telling herself, _and then off to class._ Some reason James popped into her mind. She already hated him, despite the fact that she had known him less that twenty-four hours. Was he trying to be nice to her? _Just stop being stupid Lily._ She dozed into a dream-less sleep, still sitting on the windowsill.   


* * * * * * * * * * 

  


A/N: whew! That was a very long chapter. What will Lily do to James next? Coming up: pranks, screaming matches, new classes, and more of that strange story, oh yeah, and plot somewhere along the way! Well please read and review to tell me what you think! Bertie Botts beans for the people who review! (oh and they are NOT liver/James – there are many more interesting flavors out there!)   


~North*Star 


	2. Home Away from Home

  


A/N: Thank you so much to **GoddessMoonLady, Vaness, and Emily Vanchi** and the other person (sorry I don't know who you are) for reviewing my story. I hope my next chapter is as good as my last. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Please R/R and give me any suggestions/ comments/ words of wisdom that you may have. ~North*Star   


Disclaimer: Everyone you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Holly, Nichole, Will, and anyone else I forgot belong to me. I wish JK Rowling would write a book on Harrys' parents while they were alive...   


And now chapter two! Oh I almost forgot *tosses out random beans to reviewers* Hope no one has any allergies!   


**Chapter Two: Home Away from Home**

  


Lily was still peacefully sound asleep on the windowsill in the Gryffindor common room. After much tossing and turning, she fell off and landed on the cold stone floor of the common room. She suddenly became wide awake and very aware of where she was. She stood up, brushed herself off, and started back to the dormitories. Lily had managed to get three fourths of the way up the stairs when she heard a voice call "Morning Lily."   


She leaned over the banister. Remus was sitting on a red upholstered chair folding up a piece of parchment. "Thank goodness it's only you!" She called, skipping the rest of the way up.   


"What is that supposed to mean?" Remus eyed her questioningly. "And most normal people sleep in beds, not on windowsills."   


"I might have fallen asleep in the common room, but I'm just not normal." Remus just shook his head. Personally she was just glad that Remus was up rather than James. She didn't need any more comments from James. Lily opened the door and slipped into her dormitory. The other girls were in their uniforms already and packing up their parchment and quills for class.   


"Where were you?" Nichole shouted. "You left your room and didn't come back all night."   


Lily rushed around the room grabbing her uniform and her school supplies. "Just don't ask." She ran across the room for her tie and tripped over an open trunk, papers and books soaring to all corners of the room.   


"We won't" Holly said warily, helping Lily to pick up the fallen books. The girls rushed out of the room and down the staircase. They nearly knocked Remus over the staircase banister on his way back from the Owlery. The now five Gryffindor girls and Remus entered the Great Hall for breakfast. The buzzing voices of the students rang loudly in their ears as they sat down at their respective table. Lily, Holly, and Nichole soon found out that their two roommates were not highly gifted in the intelligence department.   


"Well, we have Charms first period with the Ravenclaws." Chiara said, studying her new schedule. "Honestly, I think we should skip because I don't need a lesson in charm; I have plenty." She was rather pretty but not much in the way of brains. Fortunately for her, most people didn't know that, yet.   


"Charms are spells. You can't just skip them." Lily explained. The other girl, Gwen, couldn't stop giggling. And this was not your average laugh either. It reminded Lily of a hyena - a _sneezing_ hyena.   


After about ten minutes of torture, the other Gryffindor first years sauntered into the Great Hall; thankfully, this silenced the two girls for a little while.   


"Course schedules eh?" Sirius reached over, grabbed the parchment out of Holly's fingers, and quickly scanned over its contents. Holly promptly smacked him.   


"Yeah, the only classes we have with the Slytherins are Flying and Potions." Peter added after grabbing the parchment from Sirius.   


"Hey guys, let me see the schedule!" James called. They passed it over Holly's head to him.   


"You stupid boys! Give my schedule back!" Holly called standing on tiptoe as James held the schedule high above her head. Nichole casually walked behind James and snatched away the schedule. Being tall always has its advantages. Holly thanked her profusely. Meanwhile, Lily gawked at the owls that had entered the room, carrying packages of all shapes and sizes.   


"Owls deliver mail Evans. What did you expect, lions?" James remarked.   


"That would be keeping in Gryffindor spirit. If they were lions, we'd have sent Sirius back to the circus with them." Lily exclaimed.   


"Very funny Evans." Sirius's voice exuded sarcasm. "You could be a comedian." Just then, an envelope was dropped into Sirius' hands.   


"That could be your acceptance letter now" James continued absently. Sirius smirked and tucked the letter into his robe pocket.   


"What is it?" Remus wondered.   


"_Important business_", He said with a smile. The other eight exchanged puzzled looks. The number of other students in the hall was beginning to diminish as class time approached. Soon Will, another first year and one of the boy's roommates, informed them that it was time for class. The now ten Gryffindor first years made their way up to the Charms classroom on the fourth floor.   


The hallways were full of people bustling about to get to their first morning class. Lily could hear the complaints of disappointed students going to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Apparently that classroom had decided to relocate itself over the summer holiday. Luckily, they found their classroom without too much trouble. The room they entered was very old and elegant, with spacious, high vaulted ceilings. The musky smell of old books wafted through the air. They took their seats and stared at the sights around them. Beautiful mahogany desks lined the outskirts of the room and in the center of the room was a tall platform. After their teacher entered the room, they understood why the platform had to be so tall.   


An older-looking dwarf entered the room. His slowly graying hair peeked out of his tall, pointed wizards' hat as he waddled over to the center of the room.   


"Class, today we will be learning the levitation spell known as Wingardium Leviosa." He went over the proper wrist movements for casting a spell and instructed them to levitate their quills. Lily said the spell, concentrated as hard as she could, and watched her feather hover just barely a foot above her head.   


"Excellent job Miss Evans, and on the first try too. Ten points for Gryffindor."   


"Show off!" James scoffed, trying in vain to levitate his feather. "You stupid thing!" he seethed, tossing the feather aside.   


"Yelling at it won't help." Lily offered. _Yet again, why did I bother?_   


"Who asked you anyways?" He swiveled around in his seat. "Nichole is there some kind of trick to this."   


"Concentrating, not getting irritated at your feather,-"   


"Never mind." He said coolly. Remus was having a little too much fun levitating quills in order to jab people in the back. "Ow, watch it Rems-"   


"Call me 'Rems' and I'll poke you again." He said sardonically.   


"Rems!" Sirius yelled mockingly. He asked for what he got.   


"I wonder, would be easier to levitate a tissue?" Peter asked aloud.   


"An excellent idea Peter!" James said with a false superiority. "They're nice and light." He pointed his wand to the desk where the tissues lay. "Wingardium Leviosa!" A flash of light came out of his wand tip and set quills and ink hurling off the desk, aiming straight at the innocent students.   


"Mr. Potter, you may want to brush up on that spell a little bit more before next class. Five points from Gryffindor." Professor Flitwick walked over to watch two of the Ravenclaw girls. Just then, a shrill bell-like sound emerged from somewhere under the papers on the professor's desk. Class had ended.   


"Thanks Potter." Will exclaimed, a note of sarcasm tainting his voice. James pretended that nothing had happened. Sirius came over and clapped him on the back.   


"That was superb James. Simply superb!" Sirius exclaimed. The two boys just kept laughing as if it were al some kind of joke.   


"You're not sorry about what you did?" Nichole questioned.   


"Nope, me and Sirius have an ongoing bet. We're going to see who can find the most creative prank."   


"Except the imbecile forgot that their bet had to do with how many detentions each of them got. James just uselessly lost points for our house." Remus added.   


"So do you actually know how to levitate a feather? Was nearly putting people's eyes out part of your plan?" Lily interrogated.   


"Just a few kinks that I have to work out." James said aside to Sirius.   


"So you think this is a big joke." Lily fumed.   


"Oh for Merlin's sake Evans! What class do we have next Holly?" James asked dejectedly.   


"Didn't you pick up your own schedule?" she asked. Some mumbled words told them that the answer was no. "We have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs." She said rather annoyed. They walked outdoors to the greenhouse. Lily, James, Sirius, Nichole, Holly, Remus, and Peter stayed behind when they saw a rather odd sight.   


The game warden, Hagrid was down by the forest's edge, digging in the dirt. It was rather a hard sight to miss considering Hagrid's size. As they approached, they noticed that he seemed to be planting something.   


"What are you up to Hagrid?" Sirius asked innocently.   


"What d'yeh think yeh nosy firs' years are doin' here?" They all smiled angelically. He went back to working as he talked. "This here's a little willow; a whomping willow."   


"And what do we need a whomping willow for?" James questioned.   


"To protect the school o'course." Hagrid continued to pack soil around the seedling. Its branches flailed and smacked his arms.   


"from?-"   


"Magical stuff." That was his short and concise answer. "Yeh better be off to yer next class now." He went back to busily tying stakes around the tree for support. They went to Herbology though it proved to be a rather uninteresting class, and then they returned to the common room.   


James had taken the large armchair, and the others sat down on the various pieces of furniture in the room. "So our last class is-"   


"Potions." Holly said looking up from the game of Exploding Snap, Remus and Sirius were trying to teach Holly and Lily how to play. Lily was muggleborn and Holly was half blood so they had never really learned.   


"Oh great." Nichole said, falling back onto the couch.   


"Potions isn't _that_ bad." said an older boy with dark hair and a dark complexion. He looked strangely familiar-   


"What are you playing at Andrew, it is the worst class ever invented." Nichole continued. "Oh everyone, this is my brother Andrew." He nodded curtly.   


"Just don't listen to her. I happen to like Potions." He said, messing up Nichole's hair and walking up to the boys dormitories. "And you'd better get going."   


"Don't touch my hair you idiot!" They realized what time it was and began to make their way down to the dungeons.   


"Dungeon number two. I imagine this will be pleasant." Sirius said dryly.   


"No more stupid ideas you two." Remus warned eyeing James and Sirius.   


"Seeing as James will most likely blow things up and/or send potions ingredients flying at the students." Lily added.   


"And perfect Lily will be there to rat on me." James said.   


"What is that supposed to mean?" she exclaimed.   


"You're nothing but a teacher's pet and conformist!" James shouted.   


"You don't even know the meaning of the word 'conformist'!" Lily yelled.   


"Neither do you!"   


"What does that matter?"   


"Does the fact that I have a large vocabulary bother you Evans?"   


"I hope you make yourself explode! Then maybe the teachers will award us points out of sympathy." Lily yelled and walked quicker to catch up with Remus.   


"How many points do you think we could get?" Sirius wondered aloud. James elbowed him.   


They pushed open the creaking door and entered to foul smelling dungeon. It was incredibly dark, an eerie glow emitted from the torches placed along the stone walls of the room. The Slytherins were already there waiting and whispering sly remarks to one another. They fit in perfectly with the creepy scenery. Then there was the potions master. He loomed over the students, dressed in dreary black robes. His old, sallow face was twisted into a loathing grimace.   


"Five points from Gryffindor for tardiness. Take a seat so that we can begin class."   


"But Professor, it's only-"   


"I didn't need your comments Mr. Pettigrew, three more points from Gryffindor. I suggest that you quickly take your seats before you lose any more points for your house." They quickly pulled up chairs in front of the empty cauldrons. "Now Potter we can not have you sitting with Mr. Black. You won't get _anything_ accomplished. Go sit with Mr. Snape."   


Lily saw James' worried face as he walked across the room and took the chair next to Snape. It served him right anyway, Lily thought. Lily tried to pay attention to the Potions professor who introduced himself as Professor Dougal. Their first assignment was to make an invisibility draught. Lily tried to copy the notes down as carefully as she could, but she quickly grew tired of the unpleasant monotone voice. After he explained everything, he went into his office, leaving the students to work on their potions.   


They quickly got to work on their concoctions. Lily was sitting next to Remus who was very helpful as he was an excellent note-taker. James tried to strike up some conversation between himself and Snape.   


"You must really like Potions, I mean you seem so interested in it. I don't think it is really my kind of class. What would you need potions for anyways? I can always use an invisibility cloak." James said quickly.   


"Potions can be quite useful to those who know how to use it. Obviously you don't have the talent." Snape said haughtily.   


"Talent for what, mixing ingredients? Maybe I would be more interested if the teacher wasn't so terrible. Is he always like that?"   


"Always like what?" Snape had that same loathing face. It must be a trait passed on to all Slytherins. James decided to drop it. Lily continued to add the liquid silver to the mixture. Remus was growing a little nervous. Maybe she was doing to potion wrong.   


She glanced over and noticed Sirius snickering hilariously about something. Looking back across the room, she noticed James wasn't there. He was up to something, and it couldn't be a good thing. Dougal was still in his office grading summer essays. All of a sudden there was a huge explosion that sent Lily flying out of her chair and landing face flat onto the hard stone floor. The rest of the students burst into laughter as she picked herself up off the ground.   


"What happened here?" The professor stormed out of his office. "Who caused that explosion?" Remus had an absolutely shocked look spread across his face. Sirius ceased his snickering.   


"Mr. Black, do you know what happened?"   


"No, not at all sir."   


"I know what happened Professor." Snape's hand was raised straight into the air. "Potter used his invisibility potion to place a Filibuster Firework under Evan's chair." He continued. "He shouldn't have tested his potion without having it examined."   


"Right you are Mr. Snape. If Potter had let me look at it, maybe it would have worked better and he could have made his glasses invisible too." The whole classroom turned around and saw just as the professor had said; a pair of thick rimmed glasses was floating in midair. The students burst into laughter again. "That will be five points and a detention for Potter and a point from Mr. Black for lying."   


"We're in _negative_ points." Nichole muttered.   


"I am well aware Miss Sanders. Class is dismissed." The students quickly packed up their equipment. Still whispering to one another about what had happened. Lily emptied out the cauldron and put away her quills and parchment. As she was on her way out, she saw something lying alone on her table.   


It was a dark purple bean.   


* * * * * * * * * *

  


A/N: I hope you liked the chapter! This story has a major plot coming up soon. I decided to leave them alone in first year. Please R/R, I'll be waiting. That little box at the bottom is calling your name... 


	3. Lifestyles of the Mischievous and Magica...

A/N: I updated the very end of this last chapter. (after the last set of ****'s before the author's note) I had exams when I wrote the end of the previous chapter and it showed. My brain was turned off. So I would appreciate it if you will tell me whether you like the change or not. It is just written differently, it doesn't change the plot of the story in any way. Thank you!   


__________________________________________________________________________________

  


A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it has been _FOREVER_ since I updated. A big thanks to **GoddessMoonLady, Polkat, citrus scented, Kaydee, Andufeniel,irina, catgoddess13,Lone Songbird,The Elfin Child,**and** Alya1989262**!   


Kaydee - I think we should start a letter to JKR, maybe she'll write that book eventually. Though I guess she would have to finish all seven of the HP books so that she doesn't spoil anything.   


Polkat - about the HTML message I gave you. Fanfiction has changed something so that the tags will only work if you write them in lower case. Wanted to let you know in case you try.   


Here goes chapter three!   


Disclaimer: All people and places you recognize belong to JK Rowling. If they belonged to me, I would be rich and famous, not sitting on my butt writing disclaimers. Enjoy!  


**

Chapter Three: Lifestyles of the Mischievous and Magical

**   


It was war. That one harmless prank caused a landslide among the Gryffindor first years. Two distinct sides had formed, spearheaded by Lily and James. Sirius though just had too much fun being totally indecisive about his side. One day he would help Lily embarrassing the hell out of James, the next he would have some part in putting spiders in her bed, or gluing her books to her desk. Peter and James were both totally against Lily. Remus seemed too sick lately and didn't want to take any part in their petty behavior.   


It had been almost two months since those very first days of classes. James and Sirius were neck and neck in number of detentions. The two boys sat in the common room and poured over a piece of parchment Sirius had received in the mail at the start of the term.   


Lily walked into the room and slammed her books on the table, causing the two guilty boys to jump several feet in the air. "Your two had better have an explanation for this!" She thrust the top book from the table into James' hands.   


"Oh I think that was one of our more brilliant ideas Siri, enchanting the book like that."   


"Having the book sing nursery rhymes in the middle of my transfiguration lesson? Whose idea was that – wait, it doesn't even matter, I am going to kill you both anyways." With a wave of her wand, the couch holding James and Sirius was hovering several feet above the ground.   


"What did McGonagall say?" Sirius choked.   


"She gave me a detention on the spot, and can I assume that was your singing voice James? The dreadful singing might contribute to the reason that I got a detention."   


"Oh did you like it? Allow me to serenade you, Lily, with my majestically moving voice." He pathetically warbled out a few notes from the textbook's song. He and Sirius laughed until their sides hurt.   


"Moving? I am _moving_ out of here!" She stormed out leaving James and Sirius still floating in the air. She climbed out the portrait hole and outside into the cool afternoon air.   


"Aren't you ever going to grow up James? You can't fight like this forever." Remus said tiredly, hanging over stairs leading to the dormitory.   


"Hey, how are you feeling? Did we wake you?" James asked.   


"You woke the whole common room." Peter said walking down the stairs. "But I award you a chocolate frog for creativity." He tossed the box over to them.   


"Thanks Peter! Hey Remus, are you going down to the Halloween feast tonight? It starts only two hours from now."   


"No I think I'm going to visit Madam Pomphrey. I must have the flu or something." This certainly could have been the case. His skin was pale and ashen, and dark circles lined his eyes. He slowly and carefully lowered the levitating couch to the ground.   


"I thought you just had the flu a month ago, Remus. You probably should see Madam Pomphrey, she can fix anyone up." Peter said, flopping onto a nearby footstool. Remus joined them from his place on the stairs. "So, what's in the letter Sirius? You have been sitting there reading that one page of parchment all afternoon."   


"I owled it to myself before we left for Hogwarts in September!" Sirius exclaimed. Then he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. "It has a list of prank ideas that we are going to pull, tonight."   


Huge smirks were plastered across three of the boys' faces. Remus smiled at them. "I'll see you soon. Have fun tonight." He said and stepped out of the common room. The other three eagerly planned their attack. 

* * * * *

  


"He's an imbecile I tell you!" Lily was screaming. She had run into Nichole and Andrew, who were quietly chatting outside near the lake. "A total idiot! Now I have to serve a detention on Halloween night!"   


"Tell me something I haven't heard already Lily. It has been well established that James is a stupid prat." Nichole consoled. They took a seat near water's edge and watched it break upon the muddy bank.   


"It's Halloween, and I go to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. I am going to have a detention, probably tied to a stake outside of the Forbidden Forest waiting for some famished wild animal to come eat me. Sounds like something straight out of a horror story."   


"No, the animals here don't like such quick-tempered little girls." Andrew smiled. Nichole and Lily punched him, hard.   


"Oh what a relief!" Lily said wryly. There were several minutes of silence. Lily lay on her back and stared at the watercolor sunset. Through the pink and orange streaks stretching out as far as she could see, other witches and wizards were flying over the Hogwarts grounds. "Wow I wish I could fly." Lily said dreamily.   


"We could always teach you. Andrew's the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team and I am planning on trying out." Nichole offered. "I want to be a chaser."   


"Yeah, that would be great. Don't we have the feast soon?" Lily said absentmindedly weaving blades of grass together.   


"Yes and it's right now!" Nichole shouted. The three ran back to the castle as fast as their legs could carry them. They burst through the doors of the Great Hall into the buzzing room. There was so much excitement in the air. Lily, Nichole, and Andrew sat in their seats just as the feast was about to begin. James, Sirius, and Peter still had malicious smirks on their faces.   


"Should I ask what is going on?" Lily whispered aside to Holly.   


"We are insane, so there is no point in asking." Sirius remarked.   


"Correction, Sirius is insane and it cannot be helped. He was dropped on his head as a child." James added punching his best friend.   


"How long have you known each other?" Holly wondered   


"Too long. Probably since we were three." James said.   


"Which would explain why some of his insanity has rubbed off onto you? I still have that detention tonight!" Lily shouted tossing a spoon at James which he deftly caught and placed back on the table. _Quidditch skill James called it._   


"Don't let the lead-bugs bite!"   


"That's bed-bugs Peter." Holly corrected.   


"Whatever, I was never good with Muggle terms anyways."   


"Or the vampires. What would you do if you were bit by a vampire while you were all alone in the woods?"   


"Shut up Sirius." Lily said rather annoyed. "Hey it looks like Will is having tons of fun with his Slytherin friends." They looked over to the Slytherin table to see their fellow dorm mate sitting with the enemies.   


Dumbledore tapped on his goblet and stood up to give a speech. "Here we are at another grand Halloween feast." The hall burst with claps and cheers. "Tonight should be a night of mystery, fun, and excitement for all witches and wizards."   


"Especially those out in the cold, with the spiders." James grinned. Lily stifled a shriek with her napkin and kicked him under the table.   


"Since this is the first year we are letting the older students go to Hogsmede Halloween night, I have a small warning for you." Dumbledore looked around and cleared his throat. "There is a small house called the Shrieking Shack. It is known to be – haunted on Halloween night. It is said those who go near the house will be cursed." His left this sentence hanging with an air of solemnity. "Fifth, sixth, and seventh years, I need you to meet me on the Quidditch pitch after the feast. Have a safe Halloween and don't get sick from all the sweets."   


The food appeared on the plates again. Lily was getting more used to this after a month, but it still surprised her all the same. In the center of the table was a statue – made entirely out of sweets. There were more sweets than she had ever seen in her entire life. Sirius reached out and grabbed a handful. Of course his handful was from the bottom, which caused the entire statue to topple over onto him. Soon dinner had ended, and the older students along with many of the teachers had left the room.   


"Are we ready?" Sirius asked anxiously staring back over at the Slytherins. The girls stared at him questioningly.   


"What are you going to do? If you get us in trouble we'll lose points, and we can't really afford that considering we just recovered from the negative points." Tessa exclaimed.   


"And then we would have fewer points." Chiara said after about five minutes. Everyone stared at her. She just basked in the glow of the attention; despite the fact that everyone thought she was crazy. Sirius slipped out of his seat and onto the floor in front of the table.   


"_Wingardium Leviosa_" Sirius whispered with his wand directed at a certain Slytherin boy. Severus Snape rose into the air kicking and thrashing above the Slytherin table.   


"Black, Potter, Pettigrew, if this is you I am going to kill you!" He shouted still flailing about. "Put me down already!" The students burst into laughter and the teachers remaining were too speechless to move.   


"Peter, help me keep him in the air. James, time to initiate Operation: Broadway Slimeball."   


They took their places on the floor under the table. James whispered "_Tarantallegra_" Snape began to do a show stopping tap dance on the table.   


"Wait until my father hears about this. I know it's you Gryffindors!" Snape said in the midst of a complex soft shoe step. Dougal got out of his seat and started walking towards the Gryffindor table. Immediately the three boys ran out of the room as fast as their legs could carry them. The Potions Master stopped the spells and had Snape return to his seat. By this time, every student in the room was on the floor laughing.   


"I think it's time to go." Nichole said. Lily, Nichole, and Holly slipped quietly out of the room, passing a hilariously laughing Hagrid.   


They entered the common room to find the three boys still panting on the couch.   


"That…was brilliant…Sirius!" James said between breaths.   


"I like the spell you used Potter. Tarentellegra was it? I'll keep that in mind the next time you try to hex my schoolbooks." Lily smiled. There was a small knock on the door outside the portrait. It obviously was not a Gryffindor, otherwise they would have known the password. Lily opened the door and pushed aside The Fat Lady, who began to yell loudly at her.   


A small house elf entered the room and looked around. "Miss Evans? I is Bari, the house elf. Bari is supposed to take you down to see the professor miss. Please come with Bari." The small house elf took Lily's hand and led her out of the room. The others wished her goodbye on her way out.   


"Don't let the spiders bite Evans!" James shouted down the hall. 

* * * * *

  


Lily was being led farther and farther down dark hallways she had never seen before. The house elf opened a small passage which she had to crawl through. When they reached the other side, Lily set her eyes on an all too familiar classroom. This was Professor Dougal's classroom.   


"Wait, I can't have a detention with him. Bari, you can take me back and I'll serve detention tomorrow, with someone else."   


"Goodbye miss." The house elf said disappearing back through the passage in the wall. Lily ran over to it, but it sealed up before her eyes. She could hear footsteps coming to the door. The door opened and she saw the familiar loathsome face of the Potions Master.   


"Good Evening Miss Evans. I am sure you will have a grand time on your detention tonight." He said every word emitted with the same biting sarcasm. She bit her lip and glared at him. "Come with me, the older students will need you out in the Forbidden Forest tonight." Lily tried to stand her ground but soon found she couldn't, it was almost like her feet were moving for her towards the front doors of the castle. He pushed open the doors and they walked onto the grassy lawn. Lily kept trudging on against her will. Her ankles were becoming soaked from the wet grass and mud but she couldn't turn back. _Maybe it's to make sure I don't run._ Teaches have their own mind games they play on students, and this one was not particularly fun.   


They stopped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Lily tried to ignore her shaking knees. She heard a piercing howl and her heart nearly stopped. "Your task," Dougal began to say. "Is not one that requires great magical talent. I need you to find the ignis plant. It can burn for three years. Go along quickly, come find me when you are finished."   


Lily wandered out into the forest. She was brave. She had to be because she was a Gryffindor. How would she know what an ignis plant looked like? This was going to be a hopeless journey. She could hear older student screaming and yelling in the distance. She never knew exactly what they were doing in the forest anyways. She just slowly wandered on. 

* * * * * 

  


"Sirius Black! It is past midnight. What the bloody hell are you doing throwing pillows at me?" James sat up in bed and ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair.   


"Peter it's pranking time!" Sirius whispered loudly. Will rolled over and continued to snore.   


"We just pranked at dinner Sirius, you are going way out of hand." Peter said groggily. "I need my sleep, wake me up in the morning."   


"No you're coming with us. We're going to get Dougal this time. And Snape, and the other Slytherins." They grabbed their wands and James's invisibility cloak, and quietly slipped out of the portrait hole.   


"So what do you think he keeps in here?" Sirius said, examining a small silver bottle. They were in Dougal's dungeon.   


"Potions ingredients. We're going to reorganize his shelves a little bit."   


"Eww. Bat eyeballs." Peter whispered.   


"Oh that's just gross." Sirius whispered. He picked up the jar and dropped it into a sack. In its place, he put a bottle of squished up guacamole. They both looked kind of green and squished anyways.   


James filled up the toad's blood with ketchup and then went off to enchanting the Slytherin textbooks. Sirius quickly hexed the sleeping paintings to insult every Slytherin who passed within a ten foot radius. They heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Peter quickly reshelved a bottle of lacewings and threw the invisibility cloak over the three first years. They ran out of a door on the other side of the room and latched it behind them.   


They were outside, it was rather cold, but they continued to run on to the forest. "Think it's safe yet?" James whispered.   


"Yes, but now we are in the Forbidden Forest geniuses." Peter remarked.   


"Hey I wonder if Evans is still out here." James said quietly. "They can't leave her out here can they?" 

* * * * *

  


Lily was shivering. She had finally found the plants that Dougal was looking for and tried to warm her hands by the small flames they emitted. She didn't know how to start a fire yet. By now, the voices of the older students were long gone. Lily was slowly retracing her steps back to the castle. Her legs felt like lead as she dragged them slowly behind her.   


She heard a low growling noise, the same one as when she had entered the forest. She lit her wand and walked with it out in front of her. Then from the distance, Lily could hear a loud thumping noise. As she walked closer, she could see it was the Whomping Willow thrashing its branches around. A long howl pierced the sky. Lily quickly turned around and stared right into a pair of shining yellow eyes. The figure snarled and growled at her threateningly. "_Lumos!_" she shouted blinding the creature just long enough to climb into the high branches of a tree.   


She looked down at the animal snapping at her below. It was a werewolf. She tightly gripped the branches until her hands turned white.   


"It's a good thing it seems you can't climb trees. I am not a particularly delicious witch so you can go back home now." Maybe she was psychic. This scene seemed like déjà vu. Or maybe it was because she guessed that some wild animal would try to eat her a few hours ago. At least she wasn't tied to a stake. Or maybe she was just crazy since she was trying to talk to a wolf.   


It was very early in the morning. Daylight would approach in a matter of hours. Lily's mind raced for other options. "I would like to go home wolf. I'm sure there are plenty of other animals you could eat." Her voice came out shakily. She scolded herself for not knowing a spell to get her out of this predicament. Her mind was yelling to run. If she ran as fast as she could, maybe she could reach the castle in time. It couldn't be that far from the Whomping Willow; she'd seen it on her way to Herbology. Running for her life would be the only way out.   


No, running wouldn't work, within seconds she would be a goner. Now Lily was inwardly screaming panic. She leaned over just far enough to see the creatures' razor-sharp jaws twisted into a terrible sneer. The piercing yellow eyes were still fixed on having her for breakfast. She dug her nails into the tree bark and screamed. Panic had won. She couldn't be a true Gryffindor. Her sorting was all a big blunder.   


"I'm sorry! It's a mistake, it's a mistake." she cried. "James if I ever see you again, you will be so dead for this! Help me someone!"   


"Talking to yourself Evans? I guess detentions can do that to you sometimes." James yelled jovially. A small wave of relief washed over her.   


"There's a werewolf here you prat." She yelled acidly. She was going to get him for this. "Come get me out of here." She continued to yell as she was quickly growing anxious.   


"Say please!" Sirius yelled.   


Lily sighed and hesitantly shouted back. "Sirius! This isn't a joke! I need your help please!" The boys carefully walked over to the clearing and saw the wolf still hungrily staring at Lily.   


"Here comes your rescue team." Sirius yelled again. The wolf came after them instead. They ran as fast as they could through a passage in the Whomping Willow which seemed to have been opened by someone. Peter slid in and closed the opening just moments before the werewolf would have torn his legs off.   


"Okay, my knights in shining armor just ran away." That short moment of relief disappeared as fast as it had come. Still gripping the tree branch tightly, she began to lower herself down from the tree until just her legs were dangling. The moon began to slip behind a cloud and it became darker. Lily quickly swung on the branch, and jumped feet first into a nearby stream. The cool water splashed over her head as she swam to the top. By now, the wolf had jumped into the water. Lily scrambled out of the stream and ran. Her legs still ached and her heart pounded in her chest. She was shivering even harder after having jumped into the lake. She listened to the twigs snap under her feet and longed to see the Hogwarts castle in the shadows ahead.   


She looked behind her only to see that the wolf was gaining. She whipped her head back around to see ahead of her but only too late. She stumbled over a tree root and spilled over the forest floor. The wolf caught up to her and sniffed its prey. All the while it continued to grow darker. _It's a mistake._ She saw those razor-sharp teeth glinting in the small bit of moonlight that remained. Its cold yellow eyes were only inches away from hers. Lily shut her eyes tightly. This was not the way to die. _It's a mistake._ She waited for several seconds and noticed that she wasn't dead yet. She cautiously opened one eye in fear of what she would or would not see. The werewolf had stopped suddenly and looked around. Before her eyes, the claws and hair disappeared, and the teeth shrunk back to normal size. Slowly the werewolf began to look like – Remus.   


"Oh my-" Lily began to say.   


"Remus? You're a werewolf?" James interrogated, appearing from the passage in the tree. Remus had the same shocked expression on his face as the rest of them. Sirius and Peter crawled out close behind. They all just stared and waited for Remus to speak. There were several minutes of silence. Remus refused to make any eye contact with any of the glaring faces.   


Lily could see that he was holding back tears. He gripped his fists tightly "Yes…I am a werewolf." Remus said slowly. He looked up at Lily with red rimmed eyes. His face was rigid and cold. "I can't believe I just tried to eat you." He looked even sicker than before, as if he was going to collapse. He still refused to cry. "Please don't tell anyone." He begged. "The parents of the other students will get me kicked out of the school. I won't have anywhere to go."   


"Remus?" Lily stared bewildered. Her expression could have been mistaken for someone who had seen corpse come back to life. _I could be dead_, she told herself. She noticed that his arms and face were covered with scratches. He slowly and stiffly limped towards her.   


"Just come up to the hospital wing with us. You don't look so well." James said. "We'll talk when you're ready to."   


Remus was still staring at Lily's cold expression. "Lily? Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry. I don't care if you ever speak to me again, just as long as I know you're alright."   


"Remus, stop it." Lily said solemnly. "It was obviously out of your control. It would be silly to blame you. If you're a werewolf, there is nothing you can do about this. I forgive you Remus."   


"Thanks Lily." He whispered. A small smile brightened his face. James and Lily wrapped their arms around his frail shoulders for support. He clung to their waists as the group slowly walked up to the hospital wing together. Sirius and Peter lit their wands to help guide them on their way back. Madam Pomphrey didn't ask for any details and took Remus in. Then she shooed the others away as they were not to wake her patients. They said goodnight and walked back up to the common room.   


As soon as they had slipped past the sleeping portrait of the Fat Lady, Sirius stopped them. The four Gryffindor first years sat on the floor by the warm glowing fire. Lily could feel the sensation returning to her blue fingers. She still could not eliminate the feeling of pure terror.   


"Lily, are you alright?" Sirius said worriedly. Lily had snapped out of her daze and noticed the three boys staring at her. Sirius' face was very concerned, a face she would have laughed at as being so unlike him on any other day. Peter sat there wide-eyed. The thought of nearly losing his legs had scared him enough. James silently stayed to himself.   


"What were you doing out at this hour anyways?" Lily questioned.   


"Does it matter? We saved you didn't we?" James said.   


"James Potter! If you think _that_ is saving me, then I would like to know what _killing_ me is." Lily seethed.   


"What kind of detention was that?" Peter muttered.   


"The worst Sirius and I have had to do is polish the Quidditch hoops, three times." James reflected. "Dougal really hates you Evans. I'd watch out in Potions on Monday."   


"Sounds like Monday will be adventurous. I brought you a present Jamesie." She put the ignis branches on the table and reached into her robe pocket. Into James' hand, she dropped something small, orange, and black.   


"I got you a spider. Now you can be out in the cold with a spider whenever you want too." He smiled, rolled his eyes, and placed it into a jar.   


* * * * * * * * * *

  


A/N: Another very long chapter. I'm sorry these have been taking so long. I am actually supposed to be studying for exams. I like to try to make sure I don't have many errors so it takes me a long time to edit this. Things should go faster soon   


Tell me what you think. If I get flames, I shall use them to roast Dougal on an ignis fire (it should last three years). I hope you like it. Please Review. Constructive critisism welcome ~North*Star   


And please tell me whether you like the change. (or if it even makes sense) 


	4. Silent Night

  


A/N: Hey everyone! Didn't get to update until I finished OotP!That book was so good. Except the sad part which I will not elaborate on just in case people haven't read it yet. And well, if you haven't read it, HOP TO IT!!!   


A big thanks to **GoddessMoonLady, Musicgrl, Hayley, Polkat, Kat, **and** Alya1989262**!   


Small favor to ask: people who had previously read my old chapter three, could you please look at the changed ending. A lot of people said that the old one went too quickly and I made a few corrections. I would like to know if people see an improvement there. (And I was so good about using the word "sweets" instead of "candy" in the first chapter, but then I forgot. Thanks Polkat!)   


Disclaimer: All people and places you recognize belong to JK Rowling. As much as I wish, they will never belong to me. Christmas carols belong to whoever wrote them so long ago...And WARNING, there is a reason that I will never be a songwriter...  


**

Chapter Four: Silent Night

**   


It took quite a long time, but eventually Remus was willing to talk about his lycanthropy. He had returned from the hospital wings only two days later looking much better. Finally telling the boys and Lily took quite a load off his chest.But there seemed to be a load that could not be taken off of Lily. She couldn't help thinking about the words repeated in her head. Why did that hat put her in Gryffindor anyway?   


November passed all too quickly, and before anyone knew it, they were in mid December, preparing for exams. All those nights pranking were finally catching up. Now four Gryffindor boys sat around a mahogany table in the common room, scrolls of parchment, books and papers littered the table.   


"Argh! What happened to all of my Potions notes?" Peter yelled frantically.   


"Did you accept a certain pot of ink from a certain Severus Snape last week?"   


"Yeah, because I couldn't find mine to take notes. Here it is!" He placed an ordinary feather quill and the pot of ink on the table in front of them. Remus picked it up, and wrote with it. He then picked up the piece of paper and examined it.   


"It's disappearing ink Peter. We'll have to think of something to get out dear Sevie back won't we?" Remus said, a malicious smile on his lips.   


"_Aperecium._" Sirius exclaimed. The words did not reappear on the page. "No Remus, I think he just somehow erased the words."   


"Remus, do you have any notes on the Goblin Revolution?" James asked quickly. "Wipe that look off your face, you are beginning to scare me."   


"I might." He continued with the same terrible grin.   


"Can I use them?"   


"Now that is a completely different question James. You should make yourself clearer." His face had gone back to the normal calm, Remus-like expression everyone was used to.   


"A simple yes or no would have worked." James muttered, scribbling little pictures around the outside of his parchment.   


"And a little bit of note taking may have worked as well." Remus replied. "What would you do if it weren't for me?"   


"Learn to play the banjo and beg on the streets for knuts." James replied coolly, running a hand through his unruly mop of black hair.   


"Then by all means take the notes!" Remus shouted. He slid the papers across the table quickly.   


* * * * *

  


History of magic had proven to be a horridly uneventful and pointless class. Professor Binns droning was equivalent to the most powerful sleeping draught ever available to wizard kind. A few had even been sent to Madam Pomphrey for revival. Sadly enough, Binns was so boring that no one seemed to notice that frigid day late December when he had fallen asleep in front of the classroom fire. He left his body behind and came back to continue groggily teaching the class, still just as boring and just as apt to stay that way. Dumbledore never would have to appoint a new teacher again.   


The class had proven useful for catching up on extra sleep and for planning more strange and unusual pranks. It was the last day of classes before the Christmas holidays. Sirius pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out of his bag and muttered an incantation Remus had shown him. Then he carefully levitated the quills on his three friends' desks to get their attention. James was rudely awakened from his daydream by a quill being shoved up his nose. Across his rather blank notes was the scrawly handwriting of Sirius.   


_S – Hey you guys I came up with the most perfect plan! R - Take cover!_ James grinned seeing that Remus knew his friend all too well.   
_P - If this is a prank having to do a certain suit of armor falling and hitting Snape-   
S – Darn. That was a little predictable wasn't it?   
L – You are wasting perfectly good parchment on this stupid note.   
J – Someone save us from the environment police. Go away Evans, this is a guys only kind of note.   
L – I won't even ask what you are talking about. You dolts sent it to the wrong paper. Maybe I will go take notes for a change. We have exams coming up in a few weeks Potter may I remind you!   
R – That banjo is calling you James…   
J – So Siri, did you interrupt me from my enjoyable daydream for something useful?   
S – Actually I did in fact! Remus, you know how you said that your mind isn't quite human when you're a werewolf?   
R – yes, it's like an animal. Please tell me this has a point.   
S – Well I was thinking - YOU CAN BITE ALL OF US AND THEN WE WILL ALL HAVE LESS THAN HUMAN MINDS EVERY FULL MOON!   
…   
J – Um Sirius, you already have a less than human mind.   
R – so you both may want to start practicing your scales -   
P – And Lily so graciously offered that hat for money collecting.   
J – Yes we should thank her for that.   
S – Back to the drawing board! James, you can go back to daydreaming. Remus can go back to note-taking. And Peter, you can go back to whatever you were doing. _   


Thankfully, the class had ended at that point. Lily flourished her perfect notes in the air as they walked out of the classroom and toward the corridor. Their last class of the day was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. McGonagall herself was nowhere to be seen. But instructions were clearly written on the board. The students were attempting to turn a porcupine into a pincushion. Lily watched enviously as the porcupine on James' desk slowly changed into a fluffy pink ball with little pins sticking out in the place of the quills.   


"McGonagall isn't even here to see this." James said unenthusiastically. Sirius' poor porcupine ran off the desk as its quills were turned into little needles sticking into the poor creature. Remus quickly stunned the little porcupine and returned it to Sirius's desk.   


"Too bad, we really need the points too." Holly sighed holding up her pincushion. After much effort, Lily turned her porcupine into a pincushion as well and began to rearrange the pins into a happy face.   


"Where is McGonagall anyways? It seems so unlike her to just leave a class here." Lily wondered.   


"Maybe she decided to take Christmas break a little early." Nichole thought. "This is impossible! James is there some kind of trick to this?"   


"Concentrating, not getting irritated at your feath- I mean porcupine – need I continue?"   


"Wow I remember giving that advice at a certain Charms class back in September.   


"Maybe it's a good thing she isn't here." Peter said quietly. He had succeeded in making the porcupine very pink. A grey tabby cat jumped onto Sirius' desk and stared blankly at him.   


"Stop looking at me you weird cat. Yeah, I'm glad she isn't here! What if she never came back again?"   


"Well Mr. Black, you wouldn't get any better at classes if I never came back." They all watched as the cat quickly morphed back into their beloved Transfiguration teacher, a scowl on her face. "We'll give fourty points to Gryffindor for Miss Evans, Miss Delacroix, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin's work. But I won't subtract any from you Mr. Black because I am in such a jolly holiday mood." She said dryly.   


"Well I must say the whole transforming into a cat thing was wicked." Sirius replied pleasantly. "When do we learn to do that?"   


"You are not going to learn that in this school. I'm a registered animagus. It is a very difficult process." The halls filled with the voices of students. "Class is dismissed. Have a Happy Christmas."   


They burst out of the halls screaming and cheering. This would be only the beginning of the utter chaos and confusion they had planned. James busily ran down the corridor reading off a spell he had written down. He ran into the other three boys and they split up the remaining halls. The girls stared with puzzlement. Remus was collided into Lily sending her papers flying.   


"So sorry Lily, let me help. Girls, take these and split up." He quickly handed out slips of paper to Holly, Nichole, and Lily and continued to run down the hallway. On the paper was a very long spell. They reluctantly joined in the madness.   


One by one, the suits of armor on the wall came to life and started marching drunkenly down the hallway. Sirius was seen teaching a song to a group of suits in the corner. Lily was truly worried for his sanity. After a few minutes, she could hear the spell growing louder and louder as every suit of armor joined in.   


_Deck the Halls with old salami   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
We all really want our mommy   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
Teach us how to clean our cobwebs   
Fa la la, la la la, la la la   
That have formed within our small heads   
Fa la la la la, la la la la_   


_Deck the Halls with bits of fluff   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
Turn Snape into a large cream puff   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
Fill the sinks with jumping toads   
Fa la la, la la la, la la la   
Make the Slytherins explode   
Fa la la la la, la la la la_   


_Deck the Halls with a wet noodle   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
We'll use it to whip dear Dougal   
Fa la la la la, la la la la la   
The kitchens have such wonderous food   
Fa la la, la la la, la la la   
This sad song we shall conclude   
Fa la la la la, la la la la_   


Their voices echoed louder and louder in the corridors. Dumbledore had come down from his office to see what all of the commotion was about. His twinkling eyes were shinning behind his half-moon spectacles. Bursts of laughter came from the students, with the exception of those from the Slytherin house of course. Snape's face turned an exquisite shade of purple as Potter ran yelling down the hall. His turned on his heel and stormed out of the hallway, robes billowing out behind him, all the while muttering to himself.   


"_Will get them…pitchforks are good...jellylegs jinx…hurling hex…pitchforks..._"   


Peeves joined in on the fun, throwing ink pellets at the students. Kelly Fawcett was hit in the forehead, and she began to chase after Peeves, schoolbooks in hand. Professor Flitwick chased after Kelly in an effort to calm her down. Lily laughed until her sides hurt. Dougal was desperately trying to stop the suits of armor with little success. They changed directions and charged straight towards him. Peeves joined in on the song, changing words as it so pleased him and egging on the suits after Dougal. Peeves also noticed a certain Gryffindor boy scowling at his classmates with disgust. He decided to peg Will Hazlet with an ink pellet and ran for it.   


Holly stopped in her tracks and enchanted a magical snow to fall from the ceiling. Then of course, there was a school-wide snowball fight. Teachers offered to award house points to the teams who won. After several hours, the commotion died down, and groups of wet, but happy students went off to their common rooms to change. Lily brushed the snowflakes out of her long red hair, smiling and laughing contagiously. Nichole and Holly started singing at the top of their lungs. The boys toasted a round of butterbeers to themselves. Several older Gryffindors raided the kitchens for a party. The laughing and singing continued until late that night when they finally retreated back to their dormitories.   


People will still buzzing and chatting at breakfast the next morning. Occasionally, someone would walk by and clap the first year Gryffindors on the shoulder. At breakfast, Lily received a message from Hagrid, asking her to bring the boys with her to his hut. She finished quickly and dragged them out into the snow to Hagrids hut near the edge of the forest. James knocked quickly and he was soon toppled over by Fang, who had jumped on him and was licking his face.   


"Yeh had better be comin' in." Hagrid said cheerfully. They walked into the cozy little hut and took a seat on the old worn sofa. "'Spect yeh have an idea what yer doin' here?"   


The five of them just shook their heads.   


"S'pose yeh remember the Whompin Willow that yeh saw me plantin' in September. I need ter tank to yeh about it. I believe tha' yeh found out why it's there on Halloween."   


"To keep Remus in?" Lily guessed.   


"Righ' Lily, an' to keep yeh away when he is transformin'." Remus turned a deep crimson and stared at the floor. "Remus, I know what it is like to be half of something that no one wants to be around. I'm a half-giant!"   


"I know Hagrid. But you can at least stay sane most of the time. I go crazy every full moon and start growing hair and fangs and claws."   


"It's hard Remus. But yer friends are here to suppor' yeh. Lily came ter talk to me a bit after Halloween." Remus looked up at her. "Yeh friends want ter help yeh any way they can."   


Hagrid got up and poured them some warm tea to warm them up from the cold weather. "I jus' need yeh to stay away from tha' tree. I wan' yeh to be safe. Understand?"   


They all nodded in unison. After about an hour, they waved goodbye and headed back to the castle. Most of the students were carrying their trunks out to the carriages on their way home for the holiday. Remus quickly grabbed his belongings from the common room and headed back outside with Holly. They waved to their departing friends and headed back upstairs to enjoy the break.   


In the Great Hall, teachers and students were levitating ornaments onto a gigantic Christmas tree in the center of the room. Flitwick carefully guided the large gold star to the very top of the towering tree. McGonagall seemed to be in a much better mood since yesterday in Transfiguration class. Sirius remembered that he was supposed to tell the others something but couldn't remember what that something was.   


"Now Sirius, you could remember all of the words to that ridiculous song you made the armor sing, but you can't remember something important from Transfiguration?" Peter exclaimed.   


"That Peter, would be known as selective memory." James explained.   


He didn't remember that night, or for several days after that. Christmas morning came and Lily was awoken to another pillow being thrown in her face.   


"I'm getting up Petunia! Calm down." Lily rolled over in bed and fell soundlessly back to sleep. Nichole whacked her again with the pillow. "Don't have a cow!"   


"Wake up Lily!" Nichole screamed. Lily jumped several feet into the air. Seeing Nichole, she picked up her own pillow, and hurled it at her. "Presents!" Nichole yelled between smacks of the pillow. "We – have – presents – to – open."   


Lily stopped in her tracks and ran to the stack of presents at the foot of her bed. James, Sirius, and Peter barged into the room. "Morning ladi-ARGH!!!!" Sirius yelled. Chiara and Gwen screamed together and Lily and Nichole ran out just in time to see the boys slip down what was now a huge slide. Lily and Nichole dragged their stack of presents down to the common room.   


"How come girls can come into our dorms but guys can't go into girls dorms?" James questioned   


"Tradition. Girls are supposed to be more trustworthy." Lily explained matter-of-factly.   


Paper flew and thank- yous were exchanged. Lily had received Bertie Botts beans from James (an exceptional number of flavors such as liver, mud, earwax, mushroom, tripe…), a singing book from Sirius, a paint set from Nichole, sugarquills from Peter, a diary from Holly, and a book of jinxes and hexes from Remus.   


Sirius was in the middle of thanking James when he suddenly remembered. "Guys, I know what I meant to tell you!" He smiled, very pleased with himself.   


"What are you talking about?" Lily questioned.   


"Top secret business."   


"Fine then." Lily glared. "Nichole and I will just talk about top secret stuff somewhere else!" They skipped back up to the dormitory, leaving James, Sirius, and Peter alone in the common room.   


"So what did you need to tell us Sirius?" James questioned.   


"I know how we can help Remus!" He shouted.   


"Shhh- keep it down." Peter yelled, placing a hand over Sirius' mouth.   


"Sirius, if this is anything like your last idea -" James started.   


"Or if it involves anyone getting bitten by something-" Peter continued.   


"No no no! I was thinking about what McGonagall said."   


"That without her, you would be failing?"   


"No Animagi! We could become Animagi to help Remus. We'll go out with him on the full moon and he won't be able to hurt us!"   


"That has got to be the most brilliant idea I have ever heard! That brings your 'brilliant idea' number to a total of - two!" James shouted. "Isn't it difficult to become one though?"   


"We're all smart, we could find books on it and work out how to do it." Peter suggested. "We could get the girls to help us too."   


"Actually Peter," Sirius interrupted, "Maybe this is something we should keep to ourselves. Come one guys, we had better go before they get suspicious. Happy Christmas Remus!" Sirius shouted as they all ran down to breakfast.   


* * * * * * * * * * 

  


A/N: Okay, that chapter got just a little silly. Coming up next, more of Lily and Petunia, and into their second year. Please tell me what you think and follow the arrow.   
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	5. Petunia the Pig

A/N: Just got back from a MUCH NEEDED vacation! So now that I am in a much better mood, I thought I would put you in a better mood by updating. See how everything always works out...   


I know this chapter jumps a little bit. I am not going to be so jumpy with their future years at Hogwarts.   


Disclaimer: None of it belongs to me, no matter how many times I put on the pretty red shoes, click my heels together, and say "there's no place like Hogwarts, there's no place like Hogwarts...because it belongs to JKR! Thank you JKR!"   


**

Chapter Five: Petunia the Pig

**   


The holiday ended all too quickly. Soon, Remus and Holly had returned from rather enjoyable Christmases at their houses. Students could be seen periodically running back and forth from the library with notes in hand. Exams were coming. More students stayed up until the wee hours of the morning preparing. Lily started studying immediately after the holidays with no use. The boys, who appeared to not need to study anymore, were always lurking around if up to something. The only boy who appeared to take any of the studying seriously was Remus.   


The day of the first exam, crowds of people were clustered together in the corridor quizzing one another. Lily's first exam was Transfiguration. The students filed noisily into the classroom and took their seats. All fell silent when a young witch in lavender robes handed out the tests. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Arleigh would be administering the exam. After handing out all of the test papers she instructed them to begin. Lily quickly flipped over her paper and delved into the exam.   


The test itself was not nearly as awful as she imagined it would be. She was sure her hard work had paid off.   


"Dhat was da reasiest exam rive vever daken!" James exclaimed. He said between mouthfuls of Cauldron Cake. They had made a mad raid of the kitchens about an hour prior.   


"That was only the first exam and you are already celebrating?" Lily exclaimed incredulously. "You still have six exams left!"   


"James believes he has a future career as a rock star." Remus explained. "His banjo playing is incredible."   


"I had a hard time with a couple of the questions. Only about fifteen of them." Peter said uneasily.   


"There were only sixty questions! Most of them were essays. Fifteen of them would be 25% of them wrong!" Sirius clarified.   


"Who's the genius now?" Nichole questioned peering over her Potions book.   


"Potter, as much as I dislike you, I will not allow you to fail the exams and make your brain more rotted and useless than it already is." Lily added, yanking James to his feet, thrusting textbooks into his hand, and pushing him up the stairs to the dormitory. James found that dormitories were better equipped for sleeping than studying and soon dozed off.   


The rest of the exams went considerably well. That Tuesday, they had Potions. Lily bottled up a sample of her sleeping draft and gave it to a sneering Dougal at the end of the class. Peter proudly handed in his vial, obviously very pleased with himself. Peter did seem to excel at Potions. On Wednesday they had two exams. In the morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and at ten o'clock that same night, the students had to go to the tower for their Astronomy exam. Her favorite exam had to be the Charms test. She was sure that she had aced it.   


Finally exams were over and the students could go back to their everyday lives once again. During the spring, the Gryffindors went to cheer on the older students playing in the Quidditch games. James cockily introduced himself to all of the members of the Gryffindor teams saying that "they were his future teammates."   


Unfortunately, the Gryffindor Quidditch team hadn't won a game in twenty-two years. James also arrogantly signed parchments and gave them to people claiming that he would one day be famous. Hopefully it was a stupid, eleven-year-old boy type phase.   


Most unusually James, Sirius, and Peter continuously claimed that they needed to study, and were often seen in the library.   


"It isn't in here guys." James sighed, flopping himself down at one of the tables.   


"What isn't here?" Nichole questioned as she, Lily, and Holly walked over to the table.   


"That – um – Potions book we needed for class." Sirius blatantly lied.   


"I just returned a copy. Go see Madam Pince." Lily said. James wandered over to the desk and picked up the book. He pretended to be diligently reading the pages, despite the fact that his eyes weren't moving at all.   


* * * * *

  


Lily had stayed up late the next night, completing her astronomy homework. She hated astronomy, mostly because you had to stay up to complete your assignments. Remus sat opposite her as he worked on his assignments and kept her company. The quiet atmosphere around them was broken as they heard a loud yell.   


"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED! PEEVES IS GOING TO PUNISH THOSE NAUGHTY BOYS." There was a loud cackle as Peeves glided down the hallway. Lily and Remus walked over and lifted the portrait of the Fat Lady, who continued to snore loudly.   


The caretaker, Argus Filch, and his cat stormed down the hallway to where Peeves was singing joyously as he floated in circles. "Where are those boys Peeves? I have been trying to catch the pranking culprits for months."   


"PEEVES HAS GOT A SECRET, PEEVES HAS GOT A SECRET!" Lily was surprised the Fat Lady hadn't woken up yet. Peeves floated widened his circle and floated right through Filch.   


"Peeves!"   


"Peeves, will talk when Filch says that he will stop yelling at Peeves."   


"Peeves!" Filch's voice grew steadily louder.   


"Promise!"   


"Fine." He said in a normal voice. "I will stop yelling at you Peeves, now talk!"   


"Okay." Peeves said and then shut his mouth. He happily continued to float in circles.   


"Where are they?"   


"I said I would talk, not that I would answer you! HAHAHA!" Peeves yelled and glided through a nearby wall. Filch swore loudly and rushed down back down the hall he had come from.   


"Come Mrs. Norris. We will find the delinquents ourselves." His uneven footsteps and the light from his lantern faded away.   


"What was that about?" Lily whispered. "Who is Filch looking for?"   


"Take a wild guess Lily." Remus answered. Moments after, she heard scurrying footsteps coming in their direction.   


"Morning Lily, Remus." Sirius said cheerfully. "We were just out for a midnight stroll, weren't we boys." They nodded. Lily rolled her eyes.   


"What are you up to now?" Remus questioned.   


"Nothing illegal of course!" Peter said quickly. The other two glared at him. Lily couldn't help but notice that Peter looked a little pudgier than normal. He had something under his robes. It was another prank, she would see in the morning. They boys and Lily said goodnight and headed off to bed.   


But she didn't see in the morning. After that night, the pranks seemed to be kept down to a minimum; there was the occasional screaming portrait and the Slytherin robes being changed to a fashionable hot pink, but nothing too major.   


On the last day of school, Lily waited for something to pop out of her plate. It was the goodbye feast and not so much as a single snigger from the boys. Maybe they finally realized how juvenile the whole pranking thing was. Dumbledore stood up and announced the final points. The Quidditch cup was awarded to Slytherin; the House Cup was awarded to those smart little Ravenclaws. They were always getting points in classes.   


Severus Snape sauntered over the Gryffindor table. He made a wide smirk and muttered a little incantation. Lily took a swig of pumpkin juice and spat it out quickly. Snape had changed the pumpkin juice at their table into mud. The Slytherins saw the disgusted faces of all of the Gryffindors and laughed. A few students went over to complain to Dougal, but all he would say was, "I think the pumpkin juice is beginning to go bad, we should talk to those house elves," and "The points have already been added up, what am I supposed to do about it?"   


Then, there was something rather unexpected. Lily could hear the flapping wings of birds outside the window. It wasn't mail time. The birds soared through the windows and circled around the room. They weren't owls, but pretty tropical birds, scarlet and gold in color. They flew majestically around the room, and then flew over to the Slytherin table and pecked at their food. Now the whole hall was laughing. A few of the birds went to the bathroom on Snape's greasy head. Everyone had stitches in their sides from laughing so hard.   


* * * * * 

  


A loud whistle blew as the bright red steam engine rolled into Kings Cross station. Lily couldn't wait to see her parents after such a long, happy year but was less that thrilled about seeing Petunia. Lily dawdled around the train compartments, taking a painstakingly long time to pick up her luggage. Every minute she wasted was one less that she would have to be around Petunia Evans.   


"So when do we get to meet the folks?" Sirius said pleasantly.   


"The sooner you meet my sister the better." Lily mumbled.   


"Like my mum and dad." Sirius replied. "I swear my mum's crazy sometimes." They had just stepped out into the sunlight and had to shield their eyes.   


"Home sweet home." James yelled. He ran over and stood beside Sirius. James made a distinct nod, and Lily noticed Sirius pass him something behind their backs.   


"What's in your hand, Potter?" Lily inched herself closer to him and tried to grab at the concealed object behind his back.   


James took off running down the platform. Sirius yelled after him, "Study hard James!"   


"I will Sirius!" James yelled back. "Argh! Get away Evans!" Lily was still determined to see what they were up to.   


"You're up to something bad, Potter. You never study!"   


Remus jumped between them in an attempt to be the arbitrator. Nichole helped by pinning Lily's arms behind her back. "Can we have a moment of peace?" Remus exclaimed. "Order in the courtroom!" James stopped running and resorted to making faces at Lily, who still had her arms pinned behind her back. "Now James, Lily, we are not going to leave this summer on bad speaking terms with one another are we?"   


"Of course not." Lily said with false sweetness.   


"Then please stop bickering." Remus answered.   


"I'm sorry Potter." Lily said with the same false voice. She walked over to him and spread out her arms as if to give him a hug. James stared at her confused. Lily reached around his back and just barely caught a glimpse of the book. James quickly pulled the book away.   


"That's one of the library books. That's called stealing, thief."   


"I call it _borrowing_." James replied.   


"LILY!" a voice called. Lily whipped around and saw her mother waving at her from across the platform. Her mother bounded across the platform, Mr. Evans and Petunia in tow. "Lily I missed you so much! Look how much you've grown." Her mother ran up to her and gave her a hug.   


"Mum, you can let go now." Lily wrenched herself away from her mother's death grip.   


"You can't blame your mum Lily; it's been almost a year since we've seen you." Her father declared, giving her an equally as big hug. "These must be your friends."   


"Freaks travel in flocks, just like geese."   


"Shut up Petunia."   


"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans. I'm Nichole Sanders. I met you back in September." Nichole said in an attempt to break the tension. Lily's parents recognized her immediately and began to fire her with questions about school.   


"Mum, dad, this is Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew is around here somewhere, and Holly- Holly, come over and meet my parents."   


Holly wandered over from the bench she was waiting on. "Himynameshollydelacroix." She mumbled.   


"Hello Holly, I'm Violet Evans, and this is my husband John Evans, and our daughter Petunia Evans."   


"Are all of the girls in your family named after flowers?" James interrogated.   


"I come from a long line of Violets, Petunias, Roses, Pansys, Lilys, and Lavenders." Lily explained. "The flower names are a tradition in my family."   


"_They're all 'blooming' idiots_." James muttered under his breath. Lily glared icily at him.   


"Well we had better get going." John Evans exclaimed. "It was nice meeting all of you."   


"Bye!" Lily yelled to all of them. She turned to wave and noticed Sirius was signaling her attention. He pointed to Petunia, pulled out his wand, and motioned tying a noose around his own neck. Lily assumed this was some kind of advice from him about Petunia. _What? Don't hang yourself?_ Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Maybe a year away from Petunia may have straightened her up. How wrong she was.   


They walked back through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. As they were leaving, Lily saw a group of wizards huddled around a sardine can. Then they disappeared. They continued to walk out to the car. Lily pulled her suitcase over to load the car with her luggage.   


"I get the front!" Petunia yelled. She slammed the door open, knocking Lily over. This was just the start of her summer; it wasn't going to get any better.   


Petunia Evans was two years older than Lily, making her believe she had full rights to push Lily around. Lily never tolerated any of her sister's petty behavior. She convinced herself that it was jealousy. It was painful to imagine the spells her sister would do. Petunia was the queen of gossip; her long giraffe-like neck was useful when it came to spying on people in school and around the neighborhood. Petunia would try to brew love potions, find a spying device, and try to alter her appearance so that she could become a supermodel. _It was definitely a good thing she was not a witch._   


Lily soon fell asleep after an hour of monotonously watching trees pass the car window. She had not slept so well in ages. Lily awoke with a start when the car jerked suddenly outside of a small house. They were home. Lily dragged her heavy trunk through the door and up the old wooden staircase.   


She missed the school already. While she was glad to see her parents, Lily felt as though she belonged in the wizarding world. Lily flung herself onto the bed and stared up at the sky-blue ceiling.   


"Miss Anti-social! Are you planning on joining your family for dinner?" Petunia said nastily from the doorway. Lily silently stood up and walked down to the kitchen, not even making eye-contact with Petunia. At dinner that night, she told her parents everything about the school, her friends, the classes, and the spells she had learned, much to Petunia's disappointment. Her parents stared at her with wide-eyed interest and curiosity. They were always so pleased to have a witch in the family.   


After dinner that night, she decided what she wanted to get as a present for her birthday, an owl. Lily realized that she had no contact to any of her friends in the wizarding world. She pulled out her Charms assignment and worked until she was too tired to keep her eyes open.   


As Lily wandered slowly down to breakfast the next morning, she noticed Petunia sitting impatiently at the kitchen table.   


"You slept in." Petunia said briskly. "I have a friend coming over any minute, and you are to be out of sight at all times."   


"I am your sister you know." Lily said tersely. "I have a right to be in this house as well."   


"Then just none of the magic, voodoo stuff." Then the doorbell rang. Petunia quickly dashed to the door and invited her friend inside. Lily found a note saying that her parents would be out for the morning. That means she was left in the house alone with them. The two giggling girls dashed up to Petunia's bedroom and slammed the door.   


Lily went back up to her room and pulled out her homework again. There was no way all of this work was going to last all summer. The giggling coming from the other room was beginning to get on her nerves. If only she could cast as silencing charm. She looked over for her wand on the bedside table, only to notice it was missing. _Petunia_.   


She ran across the hallway and put an ear to her sister's bedroom door. They were giggling and talking about this boy in her class named Vernon Dursley. He sounded like an extremely boring person anyway. She turned the knob and barged into the room. "Have you ever heard of knocking, you rude little girl." Petunia snapped.   


"What did you do with it Petunia!" Lily yelled. She scanned the room quickly. Pictures and clothes flooded the floor, her dresser was covered with various tubes of make-up, and the broken window had been fixed. No, her wand was propping up the broken window.   


"What did I do with what?" Petunia said smugly, seeing her sister's eyes wander over to the broken window. Lily knew she wasn't supposed to talk about magic, but she was too angry to remember.   


"My wand you imbecile!" Petunia and her friend just stared at Lily. Then the friend had a look of understanding on her face.   


"That _stick_?" Petunia watched her younger sister's expression, "It works a much better purpose in my room."   


"So this is the one who left during the year to go to that boarding school. What was it called?"   


"Colson's Institute for the Mentally Instable. She seems to think she is a witch for some reason." Petunia said offhandedly.   


Lily pulled her wand out from under the window, causing it to slam shut. "I will hex you into next week Petunia, you know I will." She pointed the wand straight at Petunia's forehead. Petunia looked utterly shocked, her friend continued to laugh.   


"I'll tell Mum that you are threatening people with magic, _again_." Lily wasn't exactly sure what the again was for. Her friend probably thought she threatened people on a regular basis and continued to giggle uncontrollably.   


"She is such a jokester Marissa. Now go back to your bedroom and be a good girl." Petunia chuckled nervously. Lily pulled the wand away from Petunia and put it back in her pocket. She walked back to her bedroom and tucked it into a safe drawer. Why did she always let Petunia win? _Why don't I ever stand up to her? She is nothing but a bratty pig._ Lily decided to entertain herself by researching how to transfigure someone into a pig. Not that she would ever be able to try it outside of school. She remembered Sirius's advice, if you could even call it advice. She was going to have to learn to deal with Petunia for the summer.   


_Why does summer have to be so long?_   


* * * * * * * * * * 

  


A/N: That was part one of the really long chapter I wrote. The good news is that chapter six is therefore already written! I have work tommorow, but I will _try_ to format and upload it after. Please give any suggestions or comments you may have. I had to edit the first chapter because I realized I had no sense of alphabetical order with Black being after Evans. I know this chapter wasn't as eventful, but I needed to split the two somewhere.   


And consider this your last warning, there will be OotP spoilers coming up soon. Please read the book if you haven't. You don't know what you're missing!   


~North*Star (or at least for now. Currently I am North*Star**4** because of the fanfiction.net thing. I need to think of a new authors names. If anyone is dying to give ideas, you are free to.) 


	6. The Q Word and the M Word

A/N: I said I would update after work. Well it became a little complicated because the other girl that works with me quit so now I am taking over her hours (along with another girl) until she is replaced. Yeah, that's the real reason "after work" was a bit long.   


The last chapter, **Petunia the Pig** was actually the first part of a very long chapter I wrote. Well I finished the chapter and realized that it had to be split into three separate chapters. So this is part two! And like **Telly** pointed out in her review, there are OotP spoilers in here. I have since added Bellatrix Black to the first chapter. I wanted to make it clear that there are spoilers since I ran out of room in the summary for the warning.   


Disclaimer: They still don't belong to me. Don't sue me.   


**

Chapter Six: The "Q" Word and the "M" Word

**   


Lily could honestly say she learned three ways to get rid of Petunia from that summer. One: threatening to write a love letter to that dolt Vernon Dursley, Two: Carrying her wand at all times, and Three: leaving notes around the house saying "hair-loss potion- combine 3 hairs of wolf, add wormwood, slice and boil bat eyes." Or "Tarantallegra – the dancing curse." She didn't have to tell Petunia the part about not being able to do magic outside of school. That wasn't lying; it was conveniently not mentioning the truth.   


Petunia always seemed to have houseguests staying over. All of the guests also seemed to have heard this story about Colson's Institute for the Mentally Instable. Sometimes she would play along by running around the house and acting mental just for fun. It was some entertainment considering she didn't have much contact with the wizarding world.   


Lily even tried to hang out with her old school friends. It seemed that either they all heard that she was shipped away to boarding school due to mental instability, or just plain weren't interested in seeing her. Lily wandered out to a field near the house where she could just think to herself. Lily would never be normal, no matter how she tried. It was something that would take some time getting used to. She felt perfectly normal at school, but upon arriving home instantly became an outcast. She lied on her back and stared up as the wispy clouds floated gracefully by. Soon Lily had fallen soundlessly asleep, only to be awoken when a large envelope fell on her face.   


Lily immediately woke up and rubbed the sore spot on her forehead. Her immediate reaction was _where did the owl go? That was my only contact with the wizarding world!_ Then she focused her attention on the large paper envelope that had awoken her. She quickly tore it open and unfurled a list of supplies and books she would need for the new school year. A huge grin spread widely across her freckled face as she dashed back to the house.   


After much begging and pleading, Mr. and Mrs. Evans brought their daughter to Diagon Alley to pick up her school supplies. Despite the endless searching, Lily didn't find any of the other Gryffindor second years picking up supplies that day. She also visited the Magical Menagerie to pick out her owl. She returned home later that night happily carrying an armful of books and a cage containing a barn owl with large amber eyes. She named the owl Casey, after an old friend.   


On the morning of September 1st, Lily kissed her family goodbye (even Petunia) as she got ready to board the Hogwarts express once again. Casey twittered in her cage with all of the excitement. Lily Evans was back at last! She wandered around the platform looking for anyone that she recognized. There were the older seventh years, huddled together by the compartment of the train with suitcases packed with more books than Lily had ever seen. A couple of Ravenclaw fifth years were fretting about the O.W.L.S. already. A young first year ran into Lily, apologized nervously, and dragged her luggage into the Hogwarts express.   


Where was everyone? She expected James and Sirius to show up late, but where was everyone else? The whistle blew and Lily quickly picked up her things, hoping that she would find them on the train.   


The compartments were extraordinarily full. Lily walked down the aisle of the train, waiting for the others to pop out of one of the compartments and invite her in. But that didn't happen, because the Gryffindor second years were no where to be found. Lily passed a compartment of giggling Hufflepuffs. She would have joined them if it hadn't been for their claustrophobically full compartment. She passed another compartment where Gwen White and Chiara Tiers talked each others ears off. After reaching the back of the train, Lily found an available compartment. It's one other occupant was staring lazily out the window.   


"Hello Miss Evans." A pale face with a mop of sandy blonde hair looked up at her. It was Will Hazlet, another boy in their year. He never spent much time with his own house and seemed to prefer the company of the Slytherins. Even stranger, he made a point to never call a Gryffindor by his or her first name. "Why aren't you with your little friends?" This last statement was heavily tainted with sarcasm.   


"I can't find them Will." He was not exactly the person she wanted to sit with, but there were no other acceptable options. "You could try to be friends with them. They have tried to include you."   


"If I wanted a pointless lecture, I could have asked one of the Ravenclaws in the other compartment." He said curtly.   


Lily paused for a moment. "May I sit here please?"   


"Go ahead. There is another person in this compartment if you don't mind."   


"Doesn't bother me in the slightest." Lily said politely. Will stared at her again before continuing to look out the window. Lily fumbled with a quill from her luggage. Footsteps were heard down the hall as another form stepped into the compartment.   


Lily looked up to see a tall, gangly boy holding and armful of sweets, greasy hair covering his beady black eyes. "Picked up a few things for the trip Will – what are you doing here?" His gaze shifted over to Lily who made a fake little smile.   


"Doesn't have anywhere to sit, Severus. She won't bother us." Will said dryly.   


"Where was the cart?" Lily implored, hoping it would give her something to do, and an excuse to continue looking for her friends.   


"They're sold out Evans, but the cart is at the other end of the train if you want to go and admire it." Snape responded. Lily stopped in the doorway and sat back down.   


"So Severus, trying out for Quidditch?" Will asked lethargically.   


"I'm thinking that I might want to be a Keeper myself." Snape responded. "You?"   


"A Chaser I guess." Will responded. "How about you?" He looked over to Lily.   


"Me? I was um-"   


"Why bother asking. She doesn't even know how to fly." Snape responded coolly.   


"How would you know?" Lily responded angrily.   


"Mudbloods don't fly. They fall out of the sky like dead ducks." Snape said edgily.   


"What did you call-"   


"You heard me Evans. You aren't and will never be a real witch." Snape interrupted. Lily's face turned scarlet. "Real witches and wizards can fly."   


"Even if I'm not a pureblood, I will always be better at magic than you!"   


"Of course, _Miss Evans_," Will emphasized the mock of her name. "You're second rate and you know it."   


"And then you're a Gryffindor no less. Chivalrous little Evans." Snape drawled. Will looked at Snape for a moment. "Sorry Will, I'm not counting you with the rest of the group."   


"Fine by me Severus." He turned back to Lily. "Your stupid little friends go out at all hours of the night. They are just aiming to get Gryffindor in trouble. There's Ravenclaw for the smart, Hufflepuff for the loyal, Slytherin for the cunning, and then Gryffindor for the 'magical accidents' who shouldn't be here in the first place."   


"If you don't even associate with your own house, why does the number of points we have matter." She couldn't believe she was explaining this to Will. On normal occasions, she herself complained to the boys about the number of lost points. "You're a Gryffindor yourself Will!"   


"An accident of house placement I assure you. My parents can have me transferred to a different house." Will sneered. Slytherin was definitely the place for him. Lily gripped her wand firmly. Will sensed what she was doing and whipped his wand out only inches away from her face. "Get out of here Mudblood." He said in a low whisper. "No one wants you here."   


Lily could feel hot tears in her eyes, tears that she wouldn't dare cry in front of them. "The Mudbloods are always the first to go anyways." Snape responded.   


"What does that mean?" Lily glared daggers at him.   


"If there was an attack, you wouldn't know how to defend yourself. You think the wizarding world is a naïve little place where rabbits come out of hats and witches turn people into toads. You're wrong Evans. You don't belong here." He pulled out his wand and pointed at her as well.   


Lily picked up here things and rushed out of the compartment, not daring to look back at their sneering faces. She stormed along the hall narrowly ducking the lady with the refilled sweets cart. She quickly wiped her watering eyes on the sleeve of her blouse. Lily wasn't sure where she was going to go. Casey flapped her wings and hooted nosily. Lily turned around to look at her and ran headfirst into another student.   


"Watch where you are going– Evans! I found you!" Lily turned and looked into the face of James Potter. She was thoroughly relieved to have found someone she knew.   


"Where have you been Potter?!" she exclaimed happily. James questioned her over enthusiasm. "I looked in all of the compartments and couldn't find you!"   


"We were all looking for you. Sirius and Holly boarded the wrong car of the train, but returned eventually to say that they hadn't found you yet either. C'mon, we're going back to the compartment." James shuffled ahead into one of the front compartments, Lily following in tow.   


She piled her things into the compartment and was toppled over by the other Gryffindors. James jumped onto the bench next to Peter and Sirius, who was polishing his broomstick. Holly and Nichole sat on the other bench. Nichole was attempting to put Holly's long hair into a bun. Remus flopped comfortably onto the floor of the compartment doodling with quill and parchment. Lily took the only other available seat on the floor as well.   


She looked over at Sirius, who was meticulously polishing the broom handle until he could see his reflection in it. "Getting ready for Quidditch tryouts?"   


"You bet. James, Nichole, and I are going to try out."   


"Good luck guys!" Lily answered cheerfully.   


"Hey, you got an owl Lily!" Remus said cheerfully. "I wasn't sure how to get mail to you before." He stuck his fingers into the cage to stroke her feathers. The owl believed that since the hand wasn't an enemy, it must be food.   


"Her name is Casey." Lily reached into the cage and patted the small barn owl.   


"It's time to get our robes on." Holly reported after consulting her watch. "We'll be arriving soon." They all got up and left the compartment to change into their robes. Ten minutes later, the train pulled to a stop at the Hogsmeade station. The seven students boarded out of the train and followed the majority of the group, which was heading over to large horseless carriages. As they were all cramming inside, Lily heard the familiar call of "Firs' yers over here!" The nervous first years followed Hagrid to the boats. The carriages set off towards the castle.   


After leaving the carriages, they walked through the front doors, down the corridor, and into the Great Hall of the school. Lily walked with her classmates and took a seat at the Gryffindor table. She looked up at the floating candles and the enchanted ceiling. Nearly Headless Nick walked up and down the table asking everyone about their summer and occasionally readjusting his head.   


The staff table at the front of the room had two vacant chairs. Lily realized that they belonged to Hagrid and Professor McGonagall, who were both with the first years. Soon after, Dumbledore tapped his glass and the front doors opened revealing the class of new first years. Some looked extremely worried; others were awestruck by the enchanted ceiling. McGonagall pulled out the hat, and the sorting began.   


"It feels strange being on the other side of the sorting thing." Lily whispered to Sirius across the table. He nodded in agreement. The first student, Cynthia Birch, was sorted into Gryffindor causing everyone at the table to stand and cheer.   


"Narcissa Black." McGonagall called. A tall pale girl with blonde hair walked slowly up to the hat. "Slytherin!" the hat called.   


"Another cousin in Slytherin." Sirius muttered.   


"Feeling left out?" Peter questioned.   


"No."   


The sorting didn't seem to take nearly as long when you weren't part of it. Minutes later, the sorting was over and Dumbledore stood to make his announcement. "Welcome to a new year here at Hogwarts. Mr. Filch wants me to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to unsupervised students, and that the curfews will be strictly enforced. There is to be no one out of bed after curfew." Dumbledore looked at them with an unusual sort of sternness. Then the stern face melted into a smile. "Have a great year!" The food appeared on the table again. Lily smiled at her plate. Appearing food was definitely something she missed over the summer.   


That night, everyone fell sound asleep. Not even the boys were awake scheming. Tomorrow, classes would begin.   


At breakfast the next morning, McGonagall handed the schedules out. Their first class was going to be Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs. A surprising number of students huddled together looking at something outside the hall. Three big words stood out on a flyer, their letters dancing about on the page.   


**QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS TODAY!**

Ravenclaw and Gryffindor

Meet on the Quidditch Pitch at 3:00

Wear your Team Colors. 

  


"Even sooner than I thought!" James exclaimed. "I thought I could get in some more practice before tryouts."   


"Since when does James Potter, Quidditch extraordinaire need to practice?" Lily teased.   


"I definitely don't want to hear it Evans." James retorted.   


Lily picked up an orange and threw it at him. James caught it deftly. "See, you can practice with that!" James thanked her and tossed the orange back and forth with Nichole. Sirius tried to use a spoon to hit it but without much success.   


The seven students made their way up to the Defense Classroom after breakfast. Nichole, James, and Sirius continued to toss the orange while Remus pretended to be the commentator.   


"Sanders flies down the field with the Quaffle, narrowly ducking a bludger sent by Black." Nichole made a small but blatant cough. "Excuse me; she does a fabulous spin on her broom narrowly avoiding the bludger by mere centimeters. Sanders passes the Quaffle to Potter. He fakes left, weaves through Delacroix and Pettigrew. He shoots, he – oh sorry Lily!" Yes, Lily Evans seemed to have momentarily transfigured into a Quidditch hoop in James' mind.   


"HE SCORES!" James Potter yelled running down the hallway. "THE CROWD GOES WILD!" James continued to skip down the hall obliviously as the rest of the school stopped to stare. Lily grabbed the orange from the floor and hurled it at James' backside. James promptly fell forward onto his face.   


"Nice arm Evans." He muttered into the floor.   


"Softball."   


"Never heard of it."   


"Muggle sport."   


"We have arrived!" Nichole exclaimed. They stepped into a classroom supported by ancient looking columns. Professor Arleigh was writing calmly onto the blackboard at the head of the classroom.   


"Please open to Chapter One of your textbooks." She said sweetly as she straightened her turquoise robes. "Today we will be learning about Dementors. Can anyone tell me what a dementor is?"   


Remus quickly shot his hand up instantly. "Miss Chiara Tiers." Remus looked slightly disappointed.   


"They are bad creatures who wear shadowy black hoods that hide their faces so they bump into everything. They are dementeds!" She added with a flourish. Remus smacked his forehead.   


"I believe that is incorrect. You got the black hood part right though." Professor Arleigh said cheerfully. "Mr. Lupin?"   


"They are black, hooded creatures that suck every happy memory will be out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soul-less and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life." " Remus regurgitated the words of the textbook.   


"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor."   


"Tell me somewhere you can find a dementor." Several hands shot up into the air. "Miss Aubrey."   


"In Azkaban, the wizard prison." Carolyn stated matter-of-factly. Professor Arleigh awarded Hufflepuff ten points as well.   


"Today we are going to learn the counter-curse to a dementor attack. I don't expect any of you to master this yet as it is an advanced piece of magic, but it will show up on your O.W.L.S." Lily did not want to be reminded of O.W.L.S. this far in advance. "The counter attack is _Expecto Patronum_. In order to make this work, you have to think of the happiest memory you possibly can."   


The students paired up to practice. Most of the students didn't accomplish anything. Remus managed to get a small wisp of silver to glide out of his wand. This wasn't a terribly difficult feat considering the classroom was not readily equipped with any dementors to ward off. When a small bell chimed from somewhere on the desk, the class knew their lesson had ended.   


Transfiguration that day consisted of more transforming ticks into wrist watches. In potions, they made an anti-gravity potion, which caused the tester to float to the ceiling of the classroom. James, Sirius, and Nichole had refused to eat lunch due to nerves, and left to their last class on an empty stomach. Herbology was the last class of the day where they repotted more biting plants. At two-thirty, class ended and they rushed up to the common room.   


Nichole plowed through her suitcase frantically looking for a red shirt. She ended up borrowing one of Lily's shirts in the long run. She quickly picked up her broom and rushed down the stairs. The three ran outside to the Quidditch pitch to get a little last minute practicing fitted in before tryouts.   


At three-thirty, Lily, Remus, Peter, and Holly went down to see how the tryouts were progressing. They sat carefully concealed in the commentator's box as not to be seen.   


"James is a pretty good Chaser you have to admit." Remus whispered.   


"I would say that was true if I knew any of the rules of Quidditch." Lily answered.   


"Would you care to explain please?" Holly implored. Remus and Peter went off into a long speech explaining the positions, the four balls, and the object of the game.   


"Fine then Remus. James is a good Chaser." Lily said watching him dodge the blue clad Chasers. Sirius whacked a Bludger which nearly hit James in the face. James passed the Quaffle to Nichole and Nichole passed the Quaffle to Will.   


"Since when does Will Hazlet play Quidditch for Gryffindor?" Peter questioned.   


"That's what I was thinking." Lily noticed that Will kept dropping the Quaffle. "Doesn't have much hand-eye coordination does he?"   


"I personally think he should try out for the Slytherin team. He hangs around with them enough." Holly remarked.   


"True."   


"Um, Remus, I have been meaning to ask you something." Lily paused to search for a decent way to ask her question, but then gave up. "What's a Mudblood?" She said flatly. Remus and Peter looked horrified.   


"Who called you a Mudblood, Lily?" Remus shouted. "We'll kill them Peter. We'll kill them!"   


"It doesn't matter. What is it?" Lily asked quickly after seeing their terrified expressions   


"It's a rather filthy word for Muggleborn witches and wizards. It has something to do with the belief that they have mixed or "dirty" blood. Load of rubbish if you ask me." Remus spat.   


"I'm going to guess a Slytherin called you this. Some wizards think they are better because their blood is pure magic. It truly doesn't make them any better. Take Gwen White for instance, her spells always backfire on her no matter how hard she tries."   


"The girl has been vaccinated with a phonograph needle. She never stops talking and giggling." Lily said wryly.   


"Let us know if anyone bothers you again Lily. We'll show them."   


By six o'clock that evening, the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams had been decided. Andrew Sanders was talking to each of the Gryffindors individually. James hollered loudly upon making the team and started to run back to the common room to announce the good news. Remus whistled to get his attention. James was startled to see that they had sat through the whole tryout. He, Nichole, and Sirius ran up to the commentator's box.   


"We introduce to you the new Chasers of the Gryffindor team, James Potter and Nichole Sanders! Oh, and the new beater Sirius Black!" Sirius applauded loudly for himself. They congratulated everyone on making the team. Will Hazlet was cut to Lily's relief.   


"This call for celebration!" James shouted. They ran back into the castle and down to the kitchens for food. In the common room, they had a party. The Gryffindor house had a feast that night and went off to bed rather full. James and Sirius were having a butterbeer drinking contest. Peter couldn't decided who he was rooting for and egged both sides on. Remus tried to explain that the alcohol content of butterbeer was not high enough to make anyone drunk. They walked rather tipsily up to their dormitories that night. Lily was one of the last ones to retreat to her room after the excitement of the night.   


_This is my true home, with the friends who accept me._   


* * * * * * * * * *

  


A/N: Thank you to **Trapped in Icy Flame, Telly, kARA, GoddessMoonLady, Alya1989262,Musicgrl, TxSweetHeart7488, The Elfin Child, Polkat, jennifleur, Kat44, Suki11, Sequ3stered, juggling stars, JemG,** and **smmergurl** for your reviews. I am planning on changing my penname. I thought of a great penname and searched the directory for it. When no one had the name I sent an e-mail to support@fanfiction.net. Turns out people who don't write aren't listed in the directories and therefore the name is taken. I didn't know that. Back to the drawing board! Oh and thank you to **Alya1989262** for the ideas, I actually had changed around one of the ones you gave me to use as my penname. But that was the one that was taken. darn.   


I know Harry's class didn't learn about dementors and such until third year, but they were behind so this class is learning about them in second year. I didn't make a mistake. My more exciting portion (which I know I said would be this chapter but isn't because of the split) is coming up soon. (not making promises because the chapter keeps getting longer). Please review and tell me what you think.   


Oh and in case you didn't figure it out, "M" was Mudblood, "Q" was Quidditch, had to make the title interesting somehow.   
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	7. Through Swirling Mist

A/N: No useless A/N today. I started school on Thursday (though you all proabably didn't need to know that or anything). And my birthday is coming in FIVE days! Sweet sixteen!   


Disclaimer: Well, I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.   


**

Chapter Seven: Through Swirling Mist

**   


During the first two weeks of school, the three Gryffindor Quidditch players had practice every afternoon. Andrew Sanders was very passionate about his Quidditch, and he worked his team hard. James, Sirius, and Nichole came back after dark most nights. Their first game was to be against Slytherin on October 15th. Professor McGonagall said that the first game is always Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. It had something to do with tradition.   


James, Sirius, and Peter kept whispering plans to each other as they walked down the corridor to their next class. Lily found in strange that they were not letting Remus in on any of these plans. Every time any of them walked near, the three boys started to talk about the weather.   


In Potions, the students brewed a simple concoction known as a Swelling Solution. The class was much calmer and laid-back than usual. Professor Arleigh was apparently having trouble with a Slytherin student and needed to speak to the head of house immediately. They all sat silently brewing their potions while Peter flipped through a textbook. He appeared to have found something interesting as he passed the book excitedly over to James. Snape just made a disgusted grunt at their childish behavior.   


"You could do better use putting that research to doing your potion correctly." Snape drawled. "You need a Deflating Draft to shrink your overly large head."   


"You need a – um – you need a de-greasing draft Snape." James responded lamely.   


"Nice James - real nice." Nichole said sardonically.   


"No such thing Potter." Snape chided.   


"Hey Sirius!" James grabbed on to his cauldron.   


"Yes James." Sirius quickly got the message and deliberately shoved his seat back to face James. His chair bumped the table behind, splashing the solution on Snape's nose. "Oh sorry!" Sirius lied.   


Snape's overly greasy nose had begun to swell like a giant balloon. He put his hand up to his face to feel his nose and turned a deep shade of scarlet.   


"It isn't that bad really." James said calmly. "I mean, no one will notice. Right Sirius?"   


"Right James. In fact, I can hardly tell a difference."   


"Shut up Black!" Snape yelled.   


Lily was getting a little aggravated with all of the noise. "Come on guys, quiet down already!"   


"You know you're right Severus, you must be the best here at brewing potions. Look how well that nose turned out." Remus walked over to examine more closely.   


Peter walked eagerly across the room as if to show them something. He grabbed a random book off of the desk and flipped it open in front of Snape. "Well Remus, here is another Potion he should try. In Super Advanced Potions for Superbly Advanced Greasy Person and - aaaaaaaah!" Snape snatched the book out of his hand and shoved Peter to the ground.   


Remus helped him back to his feet and dusted off the book. "Severus! Knock it off." Lily scolded.   


"No one asked you to step in Mudblood!" Several Gryffindors stared appallingly at Snape. The Slytherins snickered to themselves.   


"Leave her alone Snape!" Remus yelled.   


"Look here. Lupin has become her protector!" A piercing voice shouted from the back of the room.   


"Did anyone ask you Bellatrix?" Sirius said acidly.   


"It's a family feud!" Morganna Arrowood shouted from the seat beside Bellatrix Black.   


Sirius grabbed the book from Remus' hands and opened it again, placing it conveniently between himself and his cousin. "Ugly Potion, add two gallons grease from Snape's nose, three strands of hair, and an old photograph of the victim-"   


Holly was giggling under her breath as she corked a sample of the potion. Lily fumed. "If you don't quit it I will -"   


"Tell the teacher? Yep, you're sure a favorite of Dougal's." Will said sarcastically. Lily mumbled under her breath uselessly.   


"Wouldn't Evans make an excellent Prefect?" James said mockingly.   


"What is going on in here?!" Dougal stormed into the room, Arleigh strolled in silently behind him.   


"Professor, it was them!" Snape pointed at the boys crowded around the desk with his left hand, his right was covering his massive nose.   


"Stay here after class Mr. Snape. I'll get some Deflating Draft for that." He said somewhat sympathetically. His tone of voice made Lily nauseous. His tone quickly changed as he directed his focus to the boys who had tried to slip back to their tables. "Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, detention for all of you! And fifty points from each of you." He said with a flourish. He smirked at their shocked faces.   


"But I bumped the cauldron by _mistake_!" Sirius emphasized.   


"No buts Mr. Black!" Dougal snapped. "Take another ten points off Gryffindor!"   


"Excuse me Professor," Professor Arleigh cut in daintily. "I believe a sentence like that is not necessary. You let one of your own students off far more easily just a minute ago." She glared icily.   


"Do you think I care, Adrian?" She glared again. "Take off the detention. And twenty points each - better?" The last statement was aimed towards the Defense teacher supervising the ordeal with disgust.   


"Good, you are making it better for me. This way I don't have to report you for your biases." She muttered barely audibly. Lily could tell Nichole also heard it, but by the looks of it, no one else did.   


"Class is dismissed." The students rushed out of the rooms quickly, dropping off samples of completed Potions to Dougal's desk.   


"Professor Arleigh just saved your necks!" Lily hissed to the boys.   


"At least someone is getting on Dougal's case." Nichole said admiringly.   


"It isn't your problem Evans." James shouted back. They walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.   


Lily didn't see any of the boys again for most of the night. Dinner time quickly approached and then ended as soon as it had come. Lily, Nichole, and Holly worked together on a Transfiguration project in the common room. Holly was showing them the correct way to transfigure beetles into buttons. They didn't finish the rest of their homework because there would be no classes tomorrow. After a bit of chatting, they fell asleep on the floor in front of the fire.   


They slept soundlessly. Lily dreamed she was walking down a long corridor late at night. She heard footsteps behind her and quickly ran up past the dungeons and darted towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She had peered into it once again feeling something was terribly wrong. Then, she slipped down a hall to Dumbledore's office and said goodbye…   


She heard footsteps coming from the back of the common room. She quickly opened her eyes and looked around without moving. Dark figures were moving towards them - moving towards the portrait hole. She sat up quickly and whipped out her wand.   


"Who's there?" She whispered. A hand clasped over her mouth stifling a scream of terror.   


"Shoot. Told you that you were too loud Peter."   


"Like you were so quiet James."   


"Are we still going?" The voice holding her mouth questioned. Lily tried to wrench the fingers off.   


"Evans would tattle to McGonagall. She is in training to be a prefect you know."   


"I am taking my hand off Lily, if you scream, consider yourself dead." The voice sounded like Sirius'.   


"For Merlin's sake! What are you guys doing?" Lily whispered a little too loudly. The four boys shushed her.   


"It isn't any of your business!" James hissed.   


"You might as well tell me. I mean – look how close McGonagall's room is." She threatened. Lily had no intention of tattling, but she was curious.   


"We aren't going." Sirius said.   


"We have to go tonight. I am still yet to know why you need to do this, but if you want to look at the supplies before Dougal unpacks them, this will be your last chance for quite awhile." Remus said matter-of-factly. "He will lock away some of the things after he goes through them."   


"What about Lily?" Peter interrogated.   


"We'll take her with us." James hissed again.   


"You're going to have to take me too, since you morons can't be any quieter." Nichole mumbled sleepily.   


"And let's take Holly too while we're at it!" Sirius said sarcastically.   


She walked over to them from where she was sitting on the stairs. "The only Potions Dougal locks away are the ones under strict Ministry guidelines. You are doing something illegal and I am going to tell before you get someone hurt!"   


"I though you were asleep!" Lily said astonished.   


"No, I woke up awhile ago. If you don't march back upstairs, I will tell." She said shakily. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the boys. They all whipped out their wands and pointed them at her. Holly's eyes widened and she quickly shoved her wand away.   


"I dare you Holly. I dare you!" James whispered. He glared at her intimidatingly. "Guess we are taking all of you. Anyone else?" He shouted aimlessly to the rest of the room. It was silent. "Let's go."   


* * * * *

  


They quickly brushed the shelves in a mad search for beetle eyes, toad's blood, and wormwood. "So what exactly are we doing here Sirius?" Lily said impatiently. "Ouch!" when she looked back at her hand, she saw that a glass vial had bitten her. She stared blankly at the dark red blood trickling down her hand. "What is this?"   


"Careful Lily." Sirius said. He carefully brushed the dust off of an old bottle, examined it's label, and returned it to the shelf. "Just a little biting hex on the vial. We should clean your hand up." Sirius wiped the dust off on his pants and helped her bandage the wound with a very nearly clean hankie generously donated by James. (More like carefully stolen from his pocket).   


"Oh, do we have to get those bat eyes again?" Peter said, holding the vial between two fingers far away from his face.   


"You're good at Potions Peter, I didn't think you would have such a problem with this." Remus said calmly taking the bottle away. He glanced quickly glanced its contents causing his face to turn a distinct green tinge. He quickly shoved the bottle into their sack.   


"So what is with all the secrecy? I'm sure you could tell Professor Dougal that you would like to do some _supervised_ Potions experiments." Holly said quietly.   


"Supervised is the key word." Lily said tilting the contents of an indigo bottle back and forth.   


"Perfect!" James exclaimed. "He hasn't locked this up yet!"   


"You know most Potions experiments do not involve illegal ingredients." Lily said matter-of-factly. "I bet you do know exactly what you are doing."   


"Why do we need the ingredients?" Nichole said plainly.   


James' eyes darted quickly around the room. "Like Holly said. We are _trying to get ahead_-" Sirius started to object but James elbowed him in the ribs. "-in our Potions studies. We could just surprise him. We need the points anyways."   


Remus, who still was not informed of the boys' plan, stared incredulously. His eyes quickly scanned the yellowed parchment. "Well anyways, until Dougal restocks his ingredients, we have all we can get from here."   


"Wait! There are still more rooms in here." Nichole announced a little too loudly. The other six shushed her. "Where do those doors lead to?" She said this a little more quietly.   


"That one is just Dougal's office." James said pointing to the one on the far left. "But we could try door number one, or door number two!" He said in a mock game show host voice.   


"How about door number three, the one we exit out through before someone catches us out of bed?" Peter said as his eyes quickly darted to the nearby hall. Distinct, uneven footsteps could be heard reverberating down the hall coming towards them.   


"Let's choose door number two!" Sirius exclaimed. He ran towards the door and found that it was locked. He desperately tried the door next to it to find that it was locked as well.   


"Move over!" Lily said quickly. The footsteps were much closer now. She whipped her wand out of her robe pocket. "_Alohamora_" Lily whispered. The farthest door creaked open, and the seven Gryffindor second years bolted inside and latched the door behind them.   


The room they had entered was pitch black and full of cobwebs drooping down in their path.   


"Nice one Evans." James muttered. "Where are we going now?"   


"The passage has got to lead somewhere." Sirius whispered. Holly got caught in a large cobweb and it took the others several minutes to untangle her.   


"_Lumos_!" Remus whispered, unsure of whether the person had left the dungeon yet. The others said the spell as well, but even combined, the emitted amount of light wasn't enough. Along the walls were chains and old bones. "It's a dungeon alright. You don't think they still put people in here do they?"   


"Only the Slytherins." Sirius muttered. They huddled close together and continued down a passageway that seemed to keep getting lower and narrower, until they had to crawl on hand and knees in a single file line.   


Up ahead of them, Lily could see a patch of little red lights. As they approached, the lights turned out to be the bright red eyes of bats. They fluttered by them causing all of them to scream loudly and duck.   


"Argh! They were gross enough pickled in that potions vial." Peter yelled swinging his arms.   


Eventually the ceiling height became taller once again, torches flickered to life, and they reached a large wooden door blocking their entrance along the passage. "_Alohamora_." Lily tried the spell but it didn't work on this door. The door had a large manual lock that could only be lifted using a crank from the inside. Above their heads, a small amount of silvery light danced on the ceiling. Looking up towards the light, she could see what looked like a small window leading into the next room.   


"That's our way in." Nichole said. "I think there is only one way to get in, if she's up for it of course." Nichole looked over at Holly who was still staring into the darkness around them. "Holly, you're the smallest and the lightest. We could lift you up to the window, and you could go around and get the door open." Nichole was entirely right. Holly was very skinny and though only a few inches shorter than Lily, she was well over a head shorter than Nichole herself.   


"Um…er…guys, what if I can't get the door open, how will you get me out?" Holly said quickly, a small quiver in her voice.   


"We'll stay here until we think of a way, or we'll get one of the professors and say it was our fault. Please Holly. Please?" James was on his knees, practically begging.   


"James, please stand up. You are embarrassing us." Remus said calmly.   


Holly was shaking fiercely, partly from the cold dank air, and partly from pure fear. She closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself. "Um…okay James, but you all had better not leave me here." She said this very slowly and it was obvious that it took every nerve she had. Lily found that she wasn't only relieved that they might now have a way out, but positively in amazed at Holly's courage. Sirius and Peter stood at the base of the stone wall just beneath the window with the shimmering moonlight pouring through. Then James and Remus carefully climbed onto their shoulders. With some difficulty, Lily was helped up to the top next by Nichole who gave her a leg up onto the human tower. Nichole, not having this advantage, caused the boys to yelp as she occasionally stepped on their fingers. She took her place across from Lily and they linked arms for support. Finally, Holly slowly and painstakingly climbed up the human tower. She carefully stepped onto Lily and Nichole's shoulders and carefully steadied herself.   


"Don't you dare drop me!" Holly was teetering around as she looked down at the ground below her.   


"Oh no! I think my arms may give out." Sirius said in a high pitched damsel-in-distress type voice. "Can you reach Holly?"   


"Not quite", she stretched out as far as she could, finding the window to be still a foot higher. She began to lose footing and shaking once again. Lily and Nichole allowed her to step onto their hands and they raised their arms high above their heads. "Almost there, a little higher." She kept whispering. They all kept shouting words of encouragement as they struggled to make themselves a little taller. "Got it! I got it!" she squealed with delight.   


Lily and Nichole started to get down, but the tower collapsed before they were able to. From the tangle of arms and legs sprawled out on the floor a voice exclaimed, "Thank you for breaking my fall Potter."   


"Geroff my stomach Evans!" James grimaced and pushed Lily off.   


"I'm going in, there are stairs leading down to the doorway." Holly called from the window frame. They waved to her and she set off. Shortly after, they heard metal chains clanking as Holly turned the crank to unlock the latch. The door was opened and they rushed inside, thanking her profusely.   


But they weren't prepared for what they saw next. The silver light that Lily saw did not come from the moon and stars outside, but from an enchanted ceiling very similar to the one in the Great Hall. Stars danced about upon the dark ceiling but there was no moon. The bright silvery light that Lily swore was moonlight came from an object upon a rosewood table in the center of the room. As they approached, she saw that it was a shallow, stone basin. Its sides were carved with ancient runes and symbols that none of them recognized. Inside the basin was a silvery-white cloudlike substance. She reached her wand out and used it to stir the contents of the basin. They swirled like water leaving a blur of different colors in the basin. Slowly the reflection of her own face disappeared, and she saw that the picture had cleared and now looked something like Dumbledore's office.   


"Let me see Evans," James said excitedly. He inched closer until his nose touched. "Wow, it's like a crystal ball or something. Do you think this is the future?" He leaned a little closer and appeared to be sucked into the basin. It happened too quickly for anyone to react, which was why Lily wasn't able to stop herself when she realized that James had grabbed onto her. She was pulled into the basin as well. It was cold and dark as she fell headfirst into the unknown.   


She found herself to be sitting in a squashy armchair inside what she would have thought would be the headmaster's office. The room she was in was decorated rather similarly, but was a great deal smaller. All around the room were silver, metal instruments that chimed and whirred about. Next to the desk on a perch was the small flaming phoenix, looking intently around the room. This had to be Dumbledore's office back before he was the headmaster.   


Dumbledore looked the same as his present state. He stared intently at the chair that Lily was sitting in herself.   


"Excuse me- er- Professor Dumbledore - yoo-hoo!" Lily stood up and waved her hands in his face. Dumbledore stared right through her, still intently looking at the armchair as if something were going to appear if he concentrated hard enough. "I'll just be leaving now!" she yelled and looked up at the now solid ceiling.   


"Don't think he can hear you twit." James said, picking himself off of the floor behind the chair. "Otherwise it would bother him if I did this." James walked over to his desk and reached for the long white quill gripped between Dumbledore's fingers. Instead of picking it up, his hand went straight through the quill and through the desk itself. James seemed to be intrigued by this and started sticking parts of his body through objects like Godric Gryffindor's sword and the various textbooks. "Very curious, you didn't fall through that chair Evans."   


"The things that you can't touch are those that would directly affect Dumbledore. As in, he would notice if you took the quill out of his fingers."   


"Stop pretending to be smart Evans."   


"Where are we Potter?" Lily said impatiently.   


James walked over to the door and stared out the small window. "I would say McGonagall's office; I've had detention in here enough."   


"No I mean this is Dumbledore's office now. Are we in the past?" Just that second, there was a loud crash behind her as Sirius, Remus, Peter, Nichole, and Holly fell onto the stone floor.   


"Thank you for keeping a look-"   


But James was unable to finish his sentence. Soon there was a loud pop as a wizard's head appeared in the fireplace. The mysterious wizard had grayish blonde hair, with a large bald patch on the top of his head. His head appeared to be floating in midair with the flames lapping at his face. The fire, however, did not appear to burn him in any way. Lily found this image to be rather disturbing.   


"Good Evening Albus, why are you still teaching here? I heard they offered you the position of Minister of Magic. I would hope you would have considered such a fine offer made by the Ministry."   


"Well Nicholas, I won't be teaching Transfiguration much longer. I have also been offered the position of headmaster of Hogwarts. I think my calling is to stay here and protect the children." He said this with an unfamiliar sternness.   


The old man in the fire smiled. "C'mon Albus, you could do much better by protecting the entire wizarding world. You can't let the threat of this silly man keep you from your destiny."   


"This 'silly man' as you call him seems to already have far too many followers. You've heard what they have said about them. They are all power hungry and willing to do anything to purge the wizarding world of those they feel unable to or unfit to do magic. He knows the secrets of the school from when he was a student here. He was an absolutely brilliant student as well. None of the other teachers ever expected he would change himself so much for a cause. Very few in fact even recognize that he is the student who graduated back in 1945."   


"Well if he some loony is trying to kill everyone, what makes you think that you will be able to protect the children? There has been so much talk of disappearances and mass murders." Seven pairs of eyes all widened. The man called Nicholas looked extremely worried.   


"Mass murders?" Lily whispered breathlessly. "What mass murders?"   


"I kept a close watch on the boy especially after the accidents back in that day. He always seemed to be up to something. I do not however think that he will try to come back here." Dumbledore continued.   


"I guess you were the one to beat Grindewald. As long as you are here, nothing will happen. I will be in my office, let me know if you change your mind. I still think you are missing an opportunity. They are planning on giving the position to that Cornelius Fudge."   


"Tell them Nicholas Flamel, that Albus Dumbledore declines. Anyways I can't stand having to work in small offices with people shoving decrees to sign in my face every five minutes." He said, his eyes regaining the familiar twinkle.   


"Anything you say. I'll be off. Goodbye." With another pop, the old man's face disappeared into a puff of smoke. Then the room dissolved away and the seven second years were left in darkness.   


When the world around them came into focus again, they were in the countryside, miles away from Hogwarts. The sun was just setting in the west leaving a brilliant red and gold sunset.   


"What was Dumbledore talking about?" Nichole's eyes were wide enough that they could just as easily fallen out.   


"He must have been a Transfiguration teacher before becoming headmaster. And the Ministry offered him the position of Minister." Holly explained.   


"My parents said that Dumbledore has always been very popular, especially after he defeated some dark wizard in '45." Sirius said. "Of course they always also said something about him being quite a Muggle lover."   


"What's wrong with being a Muggle lover?" Lily exclaimed somewhat offended. Holly glared at him uneasily.   


"I have no problem with it Lily. Some witches and wizards on the other hand are idiots who think they are so much better than Muggles. It will never be a perfect world." Sirius said quietly. "Dumbledore is very accepting to all kinds of people." Sirius gave a distinct nod to Remus. Remus nodded back. Then he made a blatant attempt to change the subject. "Who would like to guess how we got here."   


"I'm fairly sure we're in the past, but now we're in another time." James said looking around anxiously.   


"Does anyone know where this is?" Lily looked around the field uneasily.   


"I don't know, but there's Dumbledore!" Remus called.   


"It's like another memory." Nichole whispered. Just beyond her was a group circled together in the field. They inched themselves over for a closer look. All of the members of the group were dressed entirely in black robes, hoods and masks concealed their faces.   


"Dumbledore accepts people like this?" James said skeptically.   


Standing upon a stone in front of the group was a tall man, also wearing a black cloak. It was nearly impossible to see his face, but his voice rang out clearly.   


"Ah, my true family has come to join me at last. I have been far and wide, mingling with some of the lowest people in the wizarding world and learning everything I now know for this very moment."   


Various people in the crowd stared intently through their masks. "I am Lord Voldemort. I assume you who are standing here have decided to join me. It is a wise decision you have made for I shall be able to offer you great power. And an even greater power will be available for you once the world is ridded of those so unfit."   


"Who is 'so unfit'?" Peter asked.   


"Shhh."   


There were several cheers from the group. The cheers weren't happy and joyful but tainted with revenge and hate. "After a great deal of negotiating, I have found several giants willing to ally with us." There were more cheers. "I shall make the name Voldemort a name that all witches and wizards are too afraid to say"-   


"That will be enough!" Dumbledore emerged from the group and stood before the man who called himself Voldemort.   


"I see the champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles has decided to join us. You mad old fool." The man pulled out his wand and pointed it at Dumbledore, square between the eyes.   


"You know you are wrong in what you are doing." Dumbledore persisted. He started to pull out his own wand, but the younger man pressed his wand harder into Dumbledore's head. Dumbledore nodded and held his hands up. "It's not my style to take out my wand and threaten you Mr. Riddle. Despite all of the changes you have made to yourself, I still see you." Voldemort's eyes widened with rage. He spat at Dumbledore.   


"You all know that I took revenge on that Muggle fool who only stayed long enough to give me his name. He paid with his life. Those who wish to back out will suffer the same fate." Voldemort or Riddle said this to the crowd surrounded around him.   


His lips curled into a horrible sneer. "You were the only teacher who thought of me as something other than just a model student. You've kept close watch on me ever since the incidents back when I was in school." He narrowed his eyes and gave a mirthless laugh causing Lily to jump. "I have been meaning to do this for quite a long time. _Crucio_."   


There was a loud pop and a puff of smoke as light emitted from the tip of Voldemort's wand, heading straight for where Dumbledore was previously standing. He had vanished. The spell struck one of the men wearing a mask, causing to shake and scream with pain. One moment they heard the screams, the next moment, Lily saw the scene being pulled away from her as she plunged back first into darkness, than into blinding silver light. She became very aware of a sharp pain in her right forearm. When everything came back into focus, Lily realized that she was back in the starlit room and that someone's nails were digging into her arm. She needed to get out of here and tell a professor everything she had seen. She tried to run to the exit but the grip on her arm was tightened. She turned and looked right into the sneering face of Argus Filch.   


"Stop right there. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore'd be more than willing to deal with students who are out-of-bounds."   


* * * * * * * * * *

  


A/N: This chapter was rather long I know. Most of this information was made up by me using timeline at Harry Potter Lexicon. Great site - you should check it out sometime. I have the link on my bio.   


Thank you to the people who have reviewed this story so far. I commend your patience with me. Thanks so much everyone for letting me know how I can improve. Reviews are welcome and appreciated. Tell me what you think! 


	8. HeWhoMustNotBeNamed

A/N: Please don't come after me with pitchforks yet.  I appologize for taking so long to post.  Things have been hectic, as poor an excuse that is. Happy belated Halloween!  I dressed up as a witch and gave out candy on the front porch.  That was fun.  Then there were these boys who tried to put shaving cream all over our house, I chased them down the street.  

Disclaimer: Short and concise. Still not mine. fin.

**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named**

Filch's sallow face widened into a nasty grin, flashing horrid yellow teeth.  Lily looked around the room and saw six other shadows in the corner of the room. Filch had caught all of them. They were all out of bounds.

They were all going to be expelled.  

"You are all coming with me.  Give me your wands."  Lily held out her wand obediently.  Filch snatched up five other reluctant wands.  James clutched onto his for dear life.  Filch snarled and grabbed James by the wrist, wrenching the wand out of his fingers.  Lily saw nail marks on James' wrist. "Nice try Potter."  He said acidly.  Just then, Lily felt something brush past her ankles, causing her to jump.  An ugly brown cat, with flashing red eyes deep set into a squashed face trotted happily up to Filch.  Filch reached down and patted Mrs. Norris.  "And you shall be leading the way, my sweet."  

Filch grabbed onto the back of James' robes and jabbed the bundle of wands into his back.  "Move.  And don't try anything funny." 

Mrs. Norris scampered along ahead of them.  Filch brought up the rear holding the wands into James' back.  Lily could have sworn that Carolyn Aubrey once said he was a squib, but without a wand, Lily wasn't ready to test that theory.  They walked back over the narrow passageway, and crawled through the tunnel again.  "I found it rather amusing that you got that door open.  Couldn't get it open myself, always assumed it led outside."  Filch mumbled along.  This was somewhat of a relief to Lily.  Dumbledore seemed trusting enough, but she couldn't imagine him giving access to Filch.  The object in that room must obviously be special and highly secret to be locked up like that.  Not everyone should be allowed to see that.  

They passed the old dungeons once more. Lily saw more torture devices than she ever wanted to.  She didn't even want to think how they worked.  

Filch sneered nastily again. "Consider yourselves lucky.  I remember when we used to use them.  We'd hang you by your ears.  I can still hear the screams after all these years.  Music to my ears."  He gave a blood-curdling laugh causing Lily's stomach to drop.  She felt someone shudder near her shoulder. 

She didn't know how long they had been walking; it seemed so much shorter before.  Then they suddenly stopped in front of a closed door.  Filch pulled a large ring of keys that must have weighed nearly as much as a person out of his pocket.  He searched meticulously for the one to open the door.  With a clink, he pushed open the door leading back to Dougal's office.  

Right, she was going to be expelled.  

They walked back into the torch-lit potions room to find Dougal scribbling at his desk.  "I found these back in the dungeons.  A young boy from the corridor tipped me off.  Taking 'em up to Dumbledore."  Filch cackled.

"Those – they are people Filch.  If it isn't my favorite students."  He looked up at them almost boredly.  I'll take them.  I need to speak with Dumbledore myself about certain meddling teachers."  

"See to it they get what they deserve." 

"Oh of course."  Dougal smiled maliciously, snatching the wands from Filch.  "Over here, NOW!" he yelled.  Lily jumped and fell in line behind him.  He led them down several more corridors.  Students on their way up to bed stared at them.  Some were astonished, some were amazed, and all the while, prefects gave them looks of reprimanding.  He marched them up to the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office.  "Ice Mice."  The gargoyle moved revealing a set of spiraling steps leading up to a large wooden door.  Dougal knocked quickly and opened the door leaving them in a very familiar looking room.  He shut the door behind them quickly and waited outside the door.  

"He still decorates the same."  Sirius looked around curiously.  

"Your priorities are terrible, Sirius."  Lily snapped.

"Sorry, trying to lighten the mood a bit."  

"We are now going to get expelled."  Nichole said gravely.  "Good bye school – goodbye classrooms – goodbye Lake – goodbye squid in lake –

"There's a squid in the lake?"  Sirius said as his face lighted up with glee.  "Does it have a name?" Lily glared at him and he quickly resumed being solemn.  "Sorry Lily, trying to keep my mind off of what my parents will do to me after expulsion.  I'll probably be disowned and dropped in a Muggle school.  Or maybe they'll send me to Durmstrang"

Holly interrupted weakly. "I believe I told you, at least if I had told McGonagall-" 

"Shut up Holly."  James barked cruelly.  Holly jumped.  

"Stop it Potter!" Lily screamed.  

"You're not being much help either, Evans."

"This is not getting anywhere!"  Remus jumped in between them.  

"You don't always have to be the mediator you know!"  James turned to him with a crazed look in his eyes.    

"What has gotten into you James?"  Remus strained.  Peter grabbed the struggling James' arms behind his back.  

"We shouldn't have gone.  This idea was stupid."

"It was not stupid James. This was the least of the stupid ideas we had."  Sirius cut in.  

"There was that one where you were going to see if you could make yourself smell like a plant."  Peter chimed. 

"The idea was that I wouldn't seem so edible now would I?"  James exclaimed.  Nichole, Remus, Holly, and Lily stared at them, secretly questioning their sanity.  

"Edible?" Remus speculated. 

"Can't explain here, sorry."

"Ahem – excuse me."  

James whirled around awkwardly and stared straight into Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.  He stood powerfully before them, blue robes cascading down to the floor.  His face was set and stern, his eyes glared through half-moon spectacles.  "Have a seat, all of you." He conjured seven armchairs before the students.  Lily instantly sat down upon command.  

"So, do you want me to start asking questions, or would you just like to explain and get everything over with."  Dumbledore said firmly.  

James made an uneasy glance over to Peter and Sirius.  "We'll explain, if you will explain some things for us." 

"Just don't expel the others." Sirius cut in.  "Remus, Nichole, Lily, and Holly had nothing to do with it."

"All seven of you were caught out of bounds."

"We made them do it."  Sirius answered.  

"Alright then, explain.  After that, I will answer whatever your questions are the best that I can." 

Peter and Sirius looked rather worried about what their friend might possibly say.  Remus and the girls looked on with interest.  Dumbledore waited patiently for James to begin his tale.  

James cleared his throat.  "Peter, Sirius, and I found a spell in a textbook and we really – er -really wanted to test it out."  He finished quickly.  James looked up hopefully at Dumbledore to see if he bought the story.  

"Continue." 

James obviously hoped that his concise explanation would be enough.  "Well – then we – er- we – went to Dougal's office -"

"_Professor_ Dougal."  Dumbledore cut in.  "Show respect for your teachers please."  

"Right – er- sorry.  We went to the office because we – er -"

"We wanted to do some surprise extra credit work for our beloved professor."  Sirius added quickly.  Everyone, including Dumbledore stared at Sirius incredulously.  "We really didn't want him to put us in remedial Potions because -"

"It would mar our records for getting into an advanced course later on."  Peter chimed in.  

"And we thought we could bring up our grades by, surprising him!"  James exclaimed.  The other two shouted their approval as well.  

Dumbledore examined the boys for a minute.  He silently stared at them, taking in what they were all shouting at him.  "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Pettigrew, while I understand your wishes to do well in your Potions class, I dissuade you from attempting to complete another potion on your own again.  Without help, you could cause irreversible damage to yourselves and to others."

James sighed with relief.  Lily knew they were still hiding something and that they were going to get away with it as well.  She couldn't decide whether to say something to Dumbledore right then and there.  

"I would also hope that you would not lie to your elders.  I can't accuse you without any evidence.  It gets to be weighed on your own conscious.  So if you decide you ever want to tell me what you were really doing in that office, I'm all ears.  Consider this a warning; I don't want to see you attempting anything like this again."      

"Yes sir."  Seven students said in unison.  

They sat in silence for a few more minutes.  "So I believe you have some questions for me.  Is this true?"

"Yes sir," Lily interrupted.  "In the magical water dish thing -"

"The Pensieve?"

Lily was going to burst with all of the questions swarming in her mind.  "I guess.  Anyways, there was a man named Riddle, or Voldemort.  Who is he?  What did we see?  Was that even real? Was that -"

"Slow down Miss Evans.  One question at a time.  First of all, the Pensieve is where I keep my memories. Sometimes one just has too many things cluttering their thoughts.  I can store some old memories in there for later.  So yes, what you saw was real."

"Who is Voldemort?"  Remus speculated.  Dumbledore's face became rather grim.  

"I guess you will have to know eventually.  I thought it would be better if I could keep this from the students as long as possible, but it was only a matter of time. Surprised that you even say his name, most people who have heard of him refuse to." 

"What do you call someone when you don't use their name?"

"Most wizards are beginning to call him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.  He is becoming a frightening force on the dark side.  Voldemort has gathered a group of followers behind him; Death Eaters he calls them.  They are trying to rid the world of the people who "are not fit to do magic", mostly muggle-borns.  He is offering his followers power beyond their imagination.  Others are joining him out of fear."

"What is he doing?"  James asked with mild interest.  

"Terrible things Mr. Potter.  He has openly used unforgivable curses and killed hundreds so far.  His only goal is power; he wants everyone to fear him.  People on our side are constantly disappearing."

"So there are people fighting him?"  Holly questioned.

"Yes Miss Delacroix.  The Aurors in the Ministry are protecting all of us.  Hopefully we will have nothing to worry about at this school.  If you don't mind, I believe we have talked enough on this subject.  I would like it if you would not spread what you have heard onto all of the students yet.  They will know in time."  

"May I ask one more question?"  

"Yes Miss Sanders."  

"You were offered the position of Minister of Magic?  Why didn't you take it?"  Nichole interrogated.

"That would be two questions.  It isn't a position I am going to take on right now in this point of my life, maybe another time.  Besides, the Ministry offices smell like old socks and I don't think I could stand all of that decree writing."  Lily suppressed a small smile at the ridiculous comment.  

"Thank you sir."  

"Oh, and Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Miss Sanders," The three students whipped around.  "I hope to see a win for Gryffindor." 

"Professor?" 

"I can't help it, I am partial to Gryffindor seeing as I used to be Head of House." He responded with a smile. They said goodbye and the seven students filed out towards the door. Dougal, who had obviously been attempting to listen though the sound-proof door, tumbled into the office as James turned the handle.

"SO THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE A DETENTION???"  Dougal shouted as the students left the office.  

"I believe we have come to a mutual understanding on the issue.  They won't try that again, I guarantee you.  So, you wanted to see me?"  

* * * * * 

          "That was far too close for my liking."  Sirius exclaimed back in the common room.  Seven Gryffindor students sat around the fire, sprawled across various armchairs.  

          "Edible Potter?"  Lily speculated with much curiosity. 

          "It's nothing Evans." 

          "You owe an explanation."  

          "Tough luck." 

          "Yes boys, I believe an explanation is in order."  Remus cut in, leaning over towards them from behind the sofa.  Lily waited in anticipation for the true reason that she decided to risk expulsion.  

          "So," Sirius quickly changed the topic.  "What are we going to do about this Voldie character?"  

          "We'll get rid of him!" James shouted.  

          "Right.  Seriously."  Nichole added. 

          "Let's stop talking about this okay?"  Remus jumped in.

          "Okay, calm down! Don't have a cow." Peter responded lamely.  

          "Keeping secrets Remus?"  Lily asked curiously.  "You know something about Vol –mo-die, Movledort, Dovelmort, Lo-"

          "Stop it before you hurt yourself Evans."  James said acidly.  

          "Alright, I am tired of waiting!" Remus shouted, desperate to take the attention off what he already knew.  He dragged James up to the common room.  

          "Ouch Rems, watch my arm!"

          "What are you trying to do?  If this is some kind of prank, I expect you would have told me by now."

          "What makes you think we would plan a prank now?" James responded casually.

          "Because you're James Potter, and your friends with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.  If you don't tell me what this is about now, I will just find out for myself."

          "Remus-" 

          "And if you are doing something illegal, well James, I never thought I would say this, but I will have to turn you in."

          "Ahem – Remus -" James interrupted slightly louder.  

"And you will risk expulsion over something that is probably stupid to begin with."

"Shut up Remus!"  James shouted a little too noisily just as someone was opening the door.  Sirius Black stepped into the room.  "We're trying to help you!"  

"Peter is staying downstairs with the girls.  It is hard to keep a plan secret with you two yelling so loud."  

"You're trying to help me?  How?"  Remus whispered; his eyes were wide with shock.

"If you could be quiet for two seconds, Sirius here will explain his brilliant thesis."  

"_Brilliant thesis? Are we talking about the same Sirius Black?"  _

"You're hurting my feelings.  I am rather smart you know." 

"Oh of course."  James interjected.  "You said yourself that your mind seems 'less human' during the full moon.  You want to eat humans."

"So I thought that if we weren't humans, than you wouldn't want to eat us."  

"What are you getting at?" 

"Animagi!  McGonagall gave me the idea last year at Christmastime." 

"When she said that you were stupid and would never learn anything in her class?"  Remus cut in.

"I have finally been inspired to pay attention."  

"You know what you are doing?" Remus asked uneasily.

"Mostly, we're working out the kinks, but this will take a long time."  James answered.  

"I know I said this before, last year at Halloween.  I don't know what I would do without you guys.  Thank you!"  Remus flashed the biggest smile any of them had seen in a long time.  James and Sirius couldn't help but feel the smile was contagious.  It was their secret and the teachers won't be able to stop them.  

* * * * * * * * *

A/N: Not the most eventful chapter, but all necessary stuff. I am starting to write the next chapter tonight. No excuses! Let me know what you think!

Oh and because it has been repeatedly been mentioned to me, I found a little website for the people who want to continuously tell me that Lily and James are the same age as Voldmort and Hagrid.  Voldemort and Hagrid are in the sixties. Can't you just imagine Voldemort with arthritis problems?

There are rather complete timelines at Harry Potter Lexicon (link in bio) and on geocities (in Polkat's review).  (Thank you **Polkat**!)  I tried to put the addresses up here but it wouldn't work.  I am not meaning to be annoying, but people, please check the facts before you decide to inform everyone else about their mistakes. Then again, those websites may help you out as much as they helped me.

~North*Star - who thinks she may finally have her new penname! I'll put it up with the new chapter, maybe I'll send an email. Speaking of e-mail, some people have asked me to send them updates when I actually do put up new chapters. If anyone who isn't getting e-mails from me would like to, let me know.  (I don't want to bombard anyone with emails who doesn't want them.) 

Ciao!


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